Changes Urged to Keep Thousand Oaks Just the Same : Development: City commission devises scores of General Plan revisions to maintain the status quo in a community that likes its horses and its hillsides.

After two years of town meetings and citizen surveys, Thousand Oaks Mayor Elois Zeanah says she has heard one message loud and clear: Most residents like their city just fine, and they want to preserve it pretty much as is.

They want to keep their hillsides empty and their skylines crisp, she says. They want to keep their buildings short and their neighborhoods quiet. They want to keep their horses at home and their bicycles on the road.

And they want the city to retain its peaceful, semirural atmosphere well into the 21st Century.

To achieve that goal, a four-member city committee has recommended scores of revisions to the city’s General Plan, a blueprint for future development. The group--including Zeanah, Councilwoman Judy Lazar and Planning Commissioners Irving Wasserman and Marilyn Carpenter--will present suggestions at a study session tonight.

“We have reached a community consensus as to the vision of what our city will look like 20 years from now, at build-out,” Zeanah said. “If adopted by the council, these recommendations should eliminate a lot of controversial hearings” about future development.

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The committee was set up two years ago to overhaul the General Plan. Among its recommendations:

* Change the zoning on both the Raznick and Cohan properties in Newbury Park to allow only low- and medium-density residential construction, no more than seven units per acre.

* Designate Fireworks Hill, a 27-acre parcel behind the former City Hall on Hillcrest Drive, as a “protected ridgeline” to prevent future development from marring the skyline.

* Reaffirm the 35-foot height restrictions and extensive landscaping requirements for the vacant parcels at the intersection of Westlake and Thousand Oaks boulevards.

* Study whether Lynn Road, Wendy Drive and Old Conejo Road need to be widened--and if so, figure out how to achieve better traffic flow and build new bike paths without affecting nearby trees.

* Preserve the equestrian community by retaining zoning for ranch-style homes with horse stables.

“We’re not compiling recommendations that will sit in a file cabinet somewhere,” Wasserman said. “These will become absolute action items.”

But despite Wasserman’s optimism, several council members have already signaled their distaste for at least a few recommendations.

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Councilmen Alex Fiore and Frank Schillo oppose the “protected ridgeline” zone for Fireworks Hill, for example, because they believe such a move would deny the property owner a fair use of the parcel. Instead, they suggested that the city purchase the land and keep it pristine.

Schillo noted, however, that the city may not have the funds to buy Fireworks Hill--or to carry out other recommendations, like widening certain streets and building more trails and bike paths.

“It’ll be interesting to see where we’re going to get the money for all these ideas in the General Plan,” Schillo said.

Just holding the public hearings required to adopt all the recommendations could cost the city roughly $25,000. Despite the expense, committee members said it was crucial to update the General Plan, which has not been overhauled in 23 years.

“There’s a lot of concern about ensuring that the community looks and develops the way it was originally intended,” Lazar said.

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As an example, she cited traffic circulation issues. The committee recommended improving several congested intersections, including the Ventura Freeway interchanges at Hampshire Road, Wendy Drive and Westlake Boulevard. But they stopped short of recommending drastic public-works improvements.

“If we had to remove landscaping or affect oak trees, the community indicated they would take a lesser level of service,” Lazar said. “They want to preserve the amenities. If it takes a little longer to get through, so be it.”

After tonight’s study session, the City Council will send the proposed General Plan revisions to the Planning Commission for discussion and endorsement. The council will then formally consider adopting the document. Each specific zone change will require a separate public hearing.