Open Letter regarding our Thousand Oaks General Plan

April 23, 2021

Thousand Oaks City Council
Thousand Oaks Planning Commission
City of Thousand Oaks
2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.
Thousand Oaks, California 91362

To our fellow Thousand Oaks residents,

As former Planning Commissioners, we feel a strong connection to our amazing city and are concerned with the wholesale changes being contemplated for our General Plan today.

While we advocate for a slow growth approach, we also recognize we need to do our part to address the state’s housing crisis.

However, the proposal to increase the development plan for our city from our current 48,000 residential units to support over 81,000 units represents the most significant proposed expansion of development in the city’s six-decade-long history.

There is nothing that requires the City Council to do what would be a complete overhaul of our General Plan that has served our great city well for the last 50 years. Instead of 33,000 units, the city should limit the increase to 5,400 new residential units, the amount the City finds it must add to make its zoning consistent with the General Plan and double the amount the State requires.

We ask that these changes be in line with what the people of Thousand Oaks value for their city. Among those key values:

· Open space should be protected.

· Existing neighborhoods should be preserved.

· Building heights should be low in profile.

· The pace of growth should be measured.

· Our fiscal approach should remain sound, especially when supporting needed infrastructure.

We believe these values are still important today.

The development policies of our city and the decisions made by our Council and the voters to uphold them have served as the north star for the city’s maturity.

We ask that your Council defend these policies as other Councils have in the face of intense development pressures.

The very first goal of the Thousand Oaks General Plan approved in 1970 was: “To enhance and preserve the spaciousness and attractiveness of the Conejo Valley in accommodating future growth.” Furthering that goal, the voters approved and re-approved measures requiring public votes when parks and open space are proposed to be converted to other uses, when our city’s urban boundary is extended, or when significant increases to residential and commercial areas are proposed.

The General Plan and its implementation by city leaders, past and present, have given us the remarkable city we have today, demonstrating our collective desire to preserve the quality of life for the residents of Thousand Oaks.

It is something we should not take for granted.

We certainly can change it, but in our opinion, we should not throw out the General Plan with its goals and policies that provide the foundation for our enviable lifestyle.

The proposal to apply new General Plan designations to nearly every property within the city is far more extensive than is required or desired by the community and presents significant potential risk to the city’s historically well-planned approach. Instead, we recommend

a. Locate the new 5,400 units in the following areas of the city only:

b. The Oaks Mall / Janss Marketplace area

i. The economic viability of large retail shopping centers and movie theater complexes are at risk due to online retail companies such as Amazon and streaming entertainment services such as Netflix.

ii. The effects of COVID-19 on the economy have accelerated these changes.

iii. Without changes, the City may be forced to make reactive decisions in the future to maintain the vibrancy of this area.

iv. This area is the most natural “downtown” area in Thousand Oaks, best able to handle such changes allowing for mixture of uses.

c. The Rancho Conejo area, limited to north of the 101 freeway

i. The biotechnology sector is a unique opportunity to keep Thousand Oaks a center of global innovation

ii. The window for supporting a burgeoning biotech industry, whose higher-paying jobs in turn support broader economic activity in the city, is limited, so a window of opportunity should be recognized for any prioritized action.

iii. Remain true to the principle of preserving neighborhoods.

iv. Respects the physical constraints of undevelopable parcels such as steep slopes, flooding, and infrastructure capacity.

v. Incorporate neighborhood parks for the more than ten thousand new residents these new units will bring as we have always done in the past. This allows new residents to enjoy nearby open space with a place to recreate without over-crowding existing parks.

d. Building heights for these areas should be limited, with average building heights limited to 35’

Conclusion

We believe that Thousand Oaks is one of the most remarkable cities in which we’ve ever had the pleasure to live.

We are proud to have been a part of our city’s development, and we offer a path for continued pride in the future.

We should all be proud of the city that has arisen from the plan developed fifty years ago. We hope that the decisions today are viewed fifty years in the future with the same sense of admiration.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mic Farris
Nora Aidukas
Marilyn Carpenter
Janet Wall
Amy Walker-Davis
Laura Lee Custodio