Drawing the Line

By Michael Farris

We need to draw the line on urban sprawl and on allowing our protected parkland to be turned into houses. I am fighting to make sure that we protect our open space resources.

When I served on the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission, a plan to save nearly 200 acres from development came before us for our recommendation. This area, the Western Plateau, is a beautiful natural habitat in the northwest corner of Thousand Oaks, a habitat worthy of protection from the irreversible damage of development. Some in our city felt that an overly-complicated, four developer deal was the only way to accomplish the goal of protecting the Western Plateau. After intense debate and the reckless behavior of the City Council majority (Del Campo, Fox and Gillette), which included the unwarranted firings of two planning commissioners and the politically-motivated censure of a councilmember, the land was protected by a unanimous vote of the Council. So life should be good, right? Well, not so fast.

The City Council majority, on a separate and controversial 3-2 vote, decided to convert land set aside for open space to residential housing. This land, at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains across the street from Dos Vientos, is called Broome Ranch Addition and is identified in the City's General Plan as an "area with important open space resources...having exceptional scenic qualities"...and "to be protected." Of course, you might ask why the Council would agree to allow houses to be built there, particularly since a previous proposal to develop houses there had been turned down.

The answer is (as it often is in Thousand Oaks development decisions) for the sake of money. Though not part of the original Western Plateau deal, a late amendment to the deal by the three pro-development councilmembers gave the developers the right to build on Broome Ranch Addition in return for $2.5 million. As quick as you can say "quid pro quo", the City Council majority granted the conversion of Broome Ranch Addition to houses and voted to expedite incorporating hundreds more acres of adjacent Santa Monica Mountain lands into the City's boundaries, a prerequisite for future development.

As you might guess, this isn't about three houses at all; it's really about much more. Development of Broome Ranch Addition serves as a beachhead to the expansion of development at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. This is why it's worth $2.5 million for the developer, not because they can develop three houses, but because they're looking to develop many more.

But here's the worst part. The Parks Initiative, signed by over 13,000 Thousand Oaks residents, protects this land from being converted to residential housing unless approved by the voters. This land, designated on the General Plan land use map as protected open space, helps to form the ring of open space that surrounds our city. Unlike the Western Plateau, Broome Ranch Addition is easily accessible for development --being right across the street from Dos Vientos.

Even though the General Plan map, which lays out the land use designation for all lands in the City and has been used by the City for a half a dozen years, identified the Broome Ranch Addition land as protected by vote of the people, the city staff simply "corrected" the map (without Council or voter approval) so that the land where the developers want to put houses is no longer protected. Now that the annoyance of voter approval was dealt with, the Council majority swiftly converted this parcel into residential housing in exchange for the developer's money. This, in my opinion, was unacceptable. No amount of money should buy the approval process.

This is the reason why I decided to challenge the approval of residential housing on Broome Ranch Addition. That's why I've chosen to fight for the rights of voters-- a right that allows them to vote on whether this protected open space land should be converted to housing. That's why a line must be drawn in the sand; a line that declares that the sort of "leadership" that converts protected open space into houses and abrogates the rights of the voters will not be tolerated in our city.