City to Consider Plan to Reduce Traffic, Pollution Levels : Thousand Oaks: Officials say the ordinance would have a significant impact on local air quality.

A proposed ordinance aimed at reducing traffic in Thousand Oaks and making substantial improvements to the city’s air quality will come before the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission Monday.

If recommended by the Planning Commission and approved by the City Council, the ordinance would complete a two-year effort to revise the city’s plans to control traffic and automobile emissions.

City officials said the ordinance would have significant impact on the quality of air in Thousand Oaks and would allow the city to meet county, state and federal requirements.

“These are basically a number of small measures (and) each will have a small impact on the air quality here,” said John Helliwell, the city traffic engineer.

Helliwell said the new law, coupled with other recent air quality measures the city has approved, “should make a significant difference.

The proposal includes four major additions to traffic mitigation measures already being practiced in the city. They are:

* Linking traffic signals to a master computer system that would improve the timing of traffic lights.

* Creating new incentives for businesses to move toward ride-sharing.

* Moving toward the use of natural gas in public vehicles such as city buses.

* And adding a section to the city’s General Plan that would address air quality issues.

Most of the new programs are possible with the aid of federal grants, some of which have already been acquired by the city, Helliwell said.

Revising the General Plan has met with enthusiastic support from at least one planning commissioner.

“I think that is a long overdue proposal and I think it is truly needed,” commission Chairman Irving Wasserman said. “I would like to see us get started on that part of this right away.”

For the ordinance to be successful, he and other commissioners said, there needs to be an assurance that the proposals lead to action.

“Right now my sense is that this is a first step,” Planning Commissioner Linda Parks said. “It provides a lot in terms of what we should plan to do, but does not take the steps to implement them.”

But Helliwell said he believes the ordinance will lead to implementation of the programs.

“What this ordinance will do is give us a stronger tool to work with than we’ve had,” he said. “The rest will follow.”

The city staff’s written analysis of the ordinance states that one of its goals is to make a city commitment to the programs. Implementation of the plan is expected to occur in the months following the proposal’s passage.

Wasserman said the proposed ordinance is strengthened because the federal government can impose sanctions on the city if it does not comply with air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sanctions could include the withholding of federal highway and waste-water funds, the staff report says.

“That says to me that we will have pressure to enforce these standards,” Wasserman said. “It gives the ordinance some teeth.”

The ordinance would also require that the city be capable of showing results from any program it implements.

The EPA requires that programs be ‘measurable’ and ‘quantifiable’ so that it is evident whether progress is being made, the staff report said.

“That’s really an important aspect of this,” Wasserman said. “That tells us if we’re really making an impact or not.”

The ordinance, which was approved in March by the city’s Transportation Commission, will be forwarded to the City Council in May if it is approved Monday.

The public hearing on the ordinance will be held Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Thousand Oaks City Hall, 2400 Willow Lane.