Thousand Oaks Project : Council Won’t Permit Vote on Jungleland

Citing legal advice from private attorneys and the state Fair Political Practices Commission, the Thousand Oaks City Council decided Tuesday against putting the planned $70-million Jungleland development before voters in June.

The council voted 4 to 1 against holding a referendum on the development. Councilman Lawrence Horner cast the dissenting vote, saying he thought voters should have the right to decide on what is done with the former wild-animal park.

The planned development, which prompted a petition drive by residents calling for the referendum, is to include a hotel, a conference center, offices and a 1,800-seat auditorium.

The Ventura County registrar last month certified that a citizen’s group called Public Rights and Interests Duly Exercised, or PRIDE, collected 7,600 signatures required to put the measure on the June 7 ballot.

Petition organizers maintain that the project is a waste of taxpayers’ money and will end up costing the city millions of dollars.

But Thousand Oaks officials maintained Tuesday that they are not legally obligated to put the 20-acre Jungleland development before voters. The property is on Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Conejo School Road.

A law firm hired by the city last fall concluded that the City Council did not have to put the issue to a vote because the measure would be advisory.

The PRIDE petition called for the ballot measure to ask: “Shall the city of Thousand Oaks submit for voter approval the Jungleland Redevelopment Project?”

“As an advisory measure, it is not a proper subject to be placed before the voters by the initiative process,” said the written opinion by redevelopment-law specialists Kane, Ballmer & Berkman of Los Angeles.

A letter from the California Fair Political Practices Commission, received by the city last month, agreed with the law firm’s assessment.

PRIDE, however, based on a legal opinion by Oxnard attorney Carl F. Lowthrop Jr., concluded that the petition was proper and could not be ignored by the city because the required number of signatures had been collected.

PRIDE co-chairwoman Joan Gorner said in an interview that she and most other group members did not attend the hearing Tuesday because they believed council members had made up their minds to ignore the petition drive.

“We refuse to participate in a charade,” she said. “It’s a stunning arrogance on the part of the council to ignore 10,000 residents.”

In the next few days, members of that group will consider seeking a recall of City Council members, Gorner said.

Meanwhile, a second citizens’ group, calling itself the Jungleland Support Task Force, presented the Thousand Oaks City Council with the signatures of about 10,000 people who favor the Jungleland site.

The project, which was approved by the City Council last summer, calls for construction of the civic auditorium, a public park and a multistory parking garage. It is to be financed with about $40 million in public redevelopment money.

Private developers are being sought to lease the remaining property and invest $30 million in building a 300-room hotel, a convention center and 105,000 square feet of office space.