Renewal Plan Would Link Sprawling Strip Malls : Thousand Oaks: Councilwoman envisions commercial area with pedestrian-friendly downtown with shoppers’ trolley, footbridges, walkways.

Amid the tile-roofed stucco strip malls near the intersection of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Moorpark Road, Elois Zeanah envisions a new downtown for the city: suburban-style.

“We really don’t have a downtown where people can congregate to visit, talk with friends and dine or see entertainment,” the Thousand Oaks councilwoman said. “We just don’t have that common sense of place.”

In a proposal to go before the council on Tuesday, Zeanah has suggested linking the strip malls near The Oaks mall to create a modern, pedestrian-friendly downtown, which would be bordered by Moorpark Road, the Ventura Freeway, Wilbur Road and the mall.

“We are very fortunate because redevelopment is happening naturally in that area through private investors,” she said.

City Manager Grant Brimhall agrees the city should seize the opportunity provided by the simultaneous renovation projects in the area.

“There’s a real opportunity here for the city to influence, support and involve itself with major private interests to create something that will be magnificent,” he said.

Brimhall said he would like to see the same ideas about uniform landscaping and lighting at The Oaks mall applied to a new downtown area.

As an initial step, according to city planners, the city could latch onto renovation and new development at the Janss Mall Village, Lincoln Oaks Plaza and along the Ventura Freeway by dictating common landscaping, lighting and signs in the various shopping areas.

In addition, Zeanah wants to provide pedestrian walkways and footbridges to navigate busy intersections and a trolley to shuttle shoppers between the different chain stores.

“Instead of just a series of strip malls, which it is now, there could be some common connection through the area,” said Zeanah, who chose the area because of its proximity to residential housing and freeway access. “I don’t have a particular look in mind. That would be up to the developers working with the city.”

Zeanah said it is too late for the city to create a centralized downtown--with shops along one main boulevard--because of the sprawling development that has already occurred in Thousand Oaks. She rejected a downtown along Thousand Oaks Boulevard because of the traffic patterns and lack of city blocks.

Residents shopping in the proposed downtown area said the concept sounds like a good idea, if it would work.

“I’d like to see more trees and walkways, not the giant buildings and parking lots that we’re getting,” 30-year resident Chris Laker said.

“If they do what they propose, it would be great,” chimed in Laker’s wife, Heather. “Our local council has proposed wonderful projects, but you always get something different.”

“Yeah, look at that eyesore known as the Civic Arts Plaza,” Chris Laker added.

Officials at the Janss Mall said they would encourage any city involvement that would bring in more pedestrian traffic to their $50-million renovation project, which will include a nine-screen theater complex, a new Mervyn’s and a cafe court of outdoor restaurants.

“But our plans have already been approved by the city,” mall property manager Bill Mendelsohn said.

Mindy Vyvyan, who works at Bent . . . on Coffee--one of the few shops in the proposed downtown that is not a major chain--said community acceptance of the concept depends on whether the residents want change.

“This is a pretty conservative community,” she said. “And people will never give up their cars.”