NEWBURY PARK : Posters Rip Backers of Housing Project

Newbury Park residents blanketed their neighborhood early Thursday with posters, saying “Dump the three development stooges,” and other messages targeting the three Thousand Oaks City Council members who voted for the first phase of a massive housing project on the Dos Vientos Ranch.

The group, Residents to Preserve Newbury Park, placed dozens of colorful placards along neighborhood thoroughfares, protesting Mayor Alex Fiore’s and council members Judy Lazar and Frank Schillo’s support for the first 220 houses in the project.

In addition to “Dump the three development stooges,” the signs carried such messages as “Dos Vientos: Another gift to Newbury Park from Judy Lazar,” and “Dos Vientos: Remember in November,” a reference to upcoming city and county elections.

Michelle Koetke, who helped coordinate the protest campaign, said residents are mostly concerned about the increased traffic and pollution that the Dos Vientos project will bring to their neighborhood. The development could eventually include 2,350 houses in the foothills off Potrero Road.

“The community has really come together on this,” Koetke said. “We’re not going to give up. This is not over.”

Schillo said the protest was politically motivated and not representative of most Newbury Park residents. The councilman is in a race for county supervisor with attorney Trudi Loh, who is running as an environmentalist opposing the Dos Vientos project.

“I think this is a small group of people who are trying to gain more ground politically,” said Schillo. He helped negotiate a 1987 agreement with the two Dos Vientos developers that guarantees them the right to build 2,350 homes in exchange for $12.6 million in fees for the city.

If the city were to violate that agreement, Schillo said, it would open itself up to lawsuits. To address some residents’ concerns, however, he has suggested forming two citizens committees to monitor the development and to come up with recommendations on how to spend the developer fees generated by the project.