Planners Out of Touch

Regarding the March 13 article on the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission (“Planners Frustrated by Overturned Decisions”):

No one doubts that the Planning Commission has a complex and difficult job. But to rely on a 5-year-old public opinion survey to define the public interest suggests that commission members may be out of touch with reality. Since 1989, housing prices have continued to fall, unemployment has increased, quality employers have left the area and public funding for critical quality of life services has eroded.

In this current context, government has a responsibility to see that development promotes a local economy sufficiently strong to support and sustain the kind of community we all desire.

At Amgen’s recent City Council appeal of a negative Planning Commission decision, 35 speakers from the community were on hand to support the development proposal and none stood in opposition. The council’s approval of the appeal suggests that it recognizes the need to move away from an overly complicated and rigid regulatory posture. Let’s hope the Planning Commission also gets the message.

CHARLES T. MAXEY

Thousand Oaks