Council OKs Revised Deal to Protect Plateau

Thousand Oaks City Council members have called a truce in their bitter dispute over a politically sensitive land deal with developers, approving a plan that will preserve 191 acres of open space called the Western Plateau.

The unanimous vote came shortly after midnight Wednesday, following a six-hour hearing attended by about 150 people.

Councilwoman Linda Parks and Mayor Ed Masry, who earlier had characterized the deal as legally shaky and a giveaway to developers, signed on after some last-minute concessions that eased their concerns. “Now I can support it 100%--it’s a far better deal,” Parks said after her vote.

As modified, the agreement between the city and a consortium of three developers, Shapell Industries, Miller Bros. and Operating Engineers Pension Trust, does the following:

* Permanently protects the plateau near Hill Canyon by turning control over to the city.

* Provides about six acres in the upscale Dos Vientos Ranch development for a middle school and a YMCA with child care.

* Releases developers from a commitment to build 225 affordable and senior housing units in Dos Vientos. Instead, the builders may erect 299 full-price condos and apartments and 95 additional homes--worth millions of dollars more--in the Dos Vientos and Rancho Conejo neighborhoods.

* Requires developers to build 120 affordable and senior apartments on a site elsewhere in the city, to be determined later this year. This agreement was reached only days ago and helped sway Masry and Parks.

* Takes out of the agreement Site I, an 8.7-acre parcel that Parks and Masry argued could not be developed without a vote by city residents.

The council gave separate approval to that site in a 3-1 vote, declining to put the issue on the ballot. Masry objected and Parks abstained from the vote.

Developers have proposed building three luxury homes on the 8.7 acres; in return, they would give $2.5 million for a $3.4-million public equestrian center nearby.

Lawyers for the city say developing Site I does not require public approval under the city’s parks ordinance. But slow-growth lawyer Richard Francis disagrees and has threatened a lawsuit to force the measure onto the ballot. By separating that site from the Western Plateau deal, city officials believe the majority of the deal is protected from such a lawsuit.

Should a judge later require public approval, voters would essentially be asked to choose between a public equestrian center or keeping 8.7 acres from being developed.

Of about three dozen public speakers at the Tuesday night hearing, many praised the Western Plateau deal, while others remained convinced the deal is a giveaway.

They argued that Shapell Industries, which has owned the Western Plateau for decades, never would have developed it because building roads and grading hillsides across the plateau would be too expensive.

It was clear that Wednesday’s vote represented a compromise, but not a peace.

“Sometimes Linda Parks just can’t see the forest for the trees,” Councilman Dan Del Campo quipped later. “I’m just happy that she arrived at the conclusion that this was something that was beneficial to the entire community.”

Parks said she still believes Site I should be put to the voters. “Let the people decide. It sure beats getting sued.”