Countywide : THOUSAND OAKS : Consultants Finish Downtown Survey

Consultants hired to help Thousand Oaks spruce up its downtown business district last week characterized the area as “exceptionally healthy” but badly in need of direction.

In downtown Thousand Oaks, “people are overwhelmingly concerned about the type of businesses, about the way they look,” said consultant Doyle Hyett, part of a three-member team that spent three days conducting surveys with city and business leaders and residents in the downtown area. “Virtually everything done here is done to preserve a feeling of community.”

Hyett and his partner, Dolores Palma, conducted written and telephone surveys with about 400 people. They also interviewed an additional 200 to 300 people on the street and at a public meeting, he said. The consultants are from the firm Hyett, Palma, based in Alexandria, Va.

Results of the interviews are to be presented in a report to the city June 12. It will include recommendations on what kinds of businesses the city needs to develop and how to market the area.

The survey is part of a long-range plan to restore an aging business district in a five-mile-long area bordered by Lynn and Lakeview Canyon roads, the Ventura Freeway and Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Thousand Oaks is one of 10 cities chosen by the Washington-based National League of Cities to participate in a nationwide study of downtown areas.