Council May Move to Take Control of 326-Acre Site : Thousand Oaks: In addition to annexation of Broome Ranch, the city this week will discuss possible recreational uses of the property.

Trying to avoid a costly tax liability, the Thousand Oaks City Council Tuesday will consider redrawing city lines to annex the Broome Ranch property next to Newbury Park.

Since the city and two other agencies purchased the 326 acres of gently rolling meadows just outside the city limits two years ago, Broome Ranch has been managed by a consortium of agencies in an arrangement roughly akin to putting the land in escrow.

City officials are now ready to gain control of the land, situated just on the outskirts of Newbury Park. In order to make proposed improvements to the property, including relocating an equestrian center, the Conejo Open Space Conservation Authority--the city’s land preservation agency--must acquire the deed. But doing so could open up the door to a hefty tax bill for the agency, unless the land is annexed to Thousand Oaks.

“I think it is necessary for us to proceed with the annexation,” Mayor Jaime Zukowski said. “For us to be making decisions on Broome Ranch this needs to be done.”

Tuesday, council members will also discuss rezoning the property to allow for possible development of recreational facilities, including a golf course.

When Broome Ranch was purchased in 1993, the $3.9-million cost was shared by the city, Conejo Recreation and Park District and the National Park Service. Nearly half of the total 640 acres was immediately turned over to the national parks and became part of Rancho Sierra Vista.

But the rest of Broome Ranch, always intended to become part of the city’s open space, has remained in the technical ownership of the consortium of agencies known as the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority.

The reason is simple: taxes. About half of Broome Ranch is outside city limits. For the city’s open-space agency to own any land outside Thousand Oak’s boundaries means paying tens of thousands of dollars annually in taxes, something the already strapped agency cannot afford.

The open-space agency already owes $20,000 in back taxes for an 84-acre parcel it owns just across the Los Angeles County line near Westlake Village. The land was a gift from the Prudential Insurance Co. in 1988. The agency is usually exempt from property taxes, but Los Angeles County tax officials are not willing to offer that exemption.

The debt continues to grow as agency officials look for options, including seeking help from Prudential to pay it off, and possibly giving the land away to a Los Angeles County open-space agency.

With Broome Ranch, the agency is eager to avoid a similar situation, officials said. If it were taxed at a typical 1% annual rate of the purchase price, owning Broome Ranch would cost $39,000 annually in taxes.

“It would cost us a ranger,” agency board member Tex Ward said. “It would not be money well spent. We have a lot of open space needs that could be better served elsewhere.”

At a joint session of park district and city officials two weeks ago, the annexation was discussed and general agreement was reached, so there will not very likely be much debate over the vote Tuesday night.

But Councilwoman Elois Zeanah and Zukowski both expressed reservations about a staff suggestion that all of Broome Ranch be rezoned for public use, rather than designated as open space. A zone change must be made because part of the parcel is designated as residential.

“It’s difficult to pre-zone when we don’t have studies on what we’ll do with the land,” Zukowski said. “I’m going to ask if that (zoning change) can hold if possible.”

Zeanah is concerned whether a golf course is an appropriate use for the land. “Right now my inclination is not to agree with the staff recommendation,” Zeanah said. “They are changing the planning intent on this. The property is already listed as open space.”

Councilman Andy Fox disagreed, saying it would be better to proceed with zoning all the property for public use, and then separating out specific areas for open space later when plans are completed.

“We can go back later and figure out what we want to designate (as) open space,” Fox said. “I don’t have a problem with the zoning because I have not ruled out having a golf course at Broome Ranch.”

“I don’t want to be caught up in a red tape, bureaucratic nightmare that doesn’t allow us to serve our communities’ needs,” he added. “I just want to move forward with this thing. We need to start moving some dirt.”

If the council decides to go ahead with the annexation the process would take from seven months to a year, city staff members say.

But there is one obstacle to circumvent in the annexation process. Under California environmental laws, the city is required to do an environmental review of planned uses for the property before the annexation can be completed. But until the annexation is done, the city cannot make a final decision on what it wants to do with the land.

The City Council Tuesday will discuss how to resolve that issue.