City to Study Future of Rural Skyline Area : Thousand Oaks: Council will examine a report on preserving unique, hilly features of 144-acre site south of the Ventura Freeway.

Along narrow, winding Skyline Drive, the mailboxes tell the story.

This hilly pocket on the southern fringe of Thousand Oaks shuns the homogeneous red-tile look of the city’s newer developments. Some parcels contain junkyards, others bungalows, others two-story stucco residences.

One mailbox, painted pert green, takes the shape of a John Deere tractor. Another resembles a tie-dyed shirt, with pink and aqua swirls and a prominent peace symbol. A third mimics a birdhouse, complete with wooden shingles.

“It’s hard to believe that some of these little spots are so close to the center of a city of 110,000,” Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski said. “It’s a very special place, very secluded.”

To preserve the unique features of the so-called Skyline Area--144 acres south of the Ventura Freeway, east of Conejo Ridge Avenue and west of Foothill Drive--the Thousand Oaks City Council two years ago launched an extensive planning study.

The council will discuss the resulting 140-page report on Tuesday and will attempt to draft a plan for the Skyline Area’s future.

“It’s a mix of older and newer, a mix of untouched land and land that has been altered,” Zukowski said. “It’s been one of the most challenging issues for the city to deal with.”

Carved up by land speculators in the 1920s, the Skyline Area contains 253 parcels. The property lines bear no relation to the region’s topography--some lots lack access to roads, others slant across steep slopes, others are amazingly narrow.

To prevent a landowner from building a substandard residence on each tiny lot, the council on Tuesday will consider merging adjacent parcels. If a single owner held title to half a dozen contiguous lots of 5,000 square feet each, for instance, the city might combine them into one large parcel and permit a single house there.

“Any development in that area would have tremendous visibility, and with the Fire Department’s requirement for 100-foot brush clearance around each house, (building on) a lot of small parcels would scar the hillside,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said.

“We’re not trying to remove the possibility for owners to use the property,” Lazar added, “but we want to ensure that future (development) will be within city standards.”

Because of the Skyline Area’s physical constraints, however, some property owners doubt whether large-scale development could ever take place. Many of the parcels are on hillsides so steep that Thousand Oaks city codes would prevent grading or flattening the land.

Also, the region lacks water and sewer facilities. Poor roads and rugged terrain add to the headaches of those contemplating building.

“No matter what the city government does, Mother Nature and life in general will dictate who has money to build what when,” said Dennis Carlson, whose family owns about half a dozen parcels in the Skyline Area, covering about 1.5 acres.

In addition to redrawing property lines, the council will consider a program to purchase some parcels and preserve them as open space.

With its historic oak trees and prominent ridgeline, the Skyline Area “is important in terms of the view-shed from the freeway, even if you just see it for a few seconds going by,” Councilman Frank Schillo said.

Land acquisition will probably target the most hilly properties, which carry the most scenic value but the lowest price tags due to their development constraints. Eleven such parcels are already up for sale, since the property owner has failed to pay taxes on the land since 1987.

On Tuesday, the council will consider buying the 11 small parcels for $46,750--a price Zukowski termed a steal. “It’s amazing, isn’t it,” she said. “It’s so cheap because it’s not realistically buildable.”

The council is scheduled to discuss the Skyline Area report at the beginning of its 5 p.m. session. Already, Zukowski and Lazar have held several meetings with Skyline Area property owners, including some who flew in from other states to discuss the report as it developed.

One active participant was Carlson, who owns a residence in the Skyline Area near his family’s property.

Growing up in the region, Carlson said he enjoyed the trails to the south and the vast cattle ranches to the west. He said he used to be able to look out toward Westlake Village and see nothing but cow pastures.

Even though a K-mart, strip malls and housing developments have replaced the range, Carlson said he’s still attracted to the Skyline Area because it has retained a remote, rural feel.

And he hopes the council will be able to protect that atmosphere.

“No one’s looking to build homes there now, and they won’t for four to five years,” Carlson said. “But it’ll be nice to have a plan in place when the (developers) are ready.”