Civic Center Envisioned : Thousand Oaks Seeks Jungleland Site

The Thousand Oaks City Council voted Tuesday to enter negotiations to buy the former site of Jungleland for construction of a city auditorium, hotel and conference center.

The council tentatively approved a plan to build a 1,800-seat auditorium, a public park and a parking garage on the site of the former wild animal park. Private developers would lease the rest of the 20-acre property to build a 300-room hotel, a convention center and office building.

Council members, who approved the plan on a 4-1 vote, said they believe the project will stimulate redevelopment of an older retail section of the city along Thousand Oaks Boulevard east of the Moorpark Freeway.

But the plan is expected to draw opposition from the same community activists who helped defeat an arts-center proposal last year. One leader of that campaign vowed Wednesday to start a petition drive to force a referendum on the Jungleland proposal.

City officials estimate that it will cost at least $40 million to purchase the property and build the public facilities. Private developers are expected to contribute another $40 million for construction of the hotel and office building, according to a city report.

Revenues from the lease of the property to the developers would recoup the city’s investment by providing the Thousand Oaks Redevelopment Agency with about $170 million over 55 years, the report said.

Opponents to the project said the proposal is similar to one for a civic arts center that was defeated by voters last June after a petition drive by citizens groups forced a referendum. Councilman Lawrence Horner, who cast the vote against the plan, said the current proposal also should go before voters.

Thousand Oaks activist Richard Booker, who helped engineer the referendum last June, said Wednesday that he will start trying this week to collect the 6,000 signatures needed to put the Jungleland proposal on the ballot in 1988.

“It’s been our contention since 1984 that the people should decide this,” Booker said.

The owner of the property, Asad Morovati, was denied permission by the city Planning Commission this spring to build a 227,000-square-foot retail and office complex on the site. His representative, attorney Charles Cohen, told the council that Morovati is now willing to negotiate the sale of the property, situated at the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road.

The City Council set a 120-deadline to negotiate the purchase of the property.

Jungleland closed in 1969 after 40 years in business.