THOUSAND OAKS : City OKs Funds to Buy Hilltop Property

The Thousand Oaks City Council has agreed to spend $85,000 to buy hilltop property where a family wanted to build a dream home but could not because of restrictive city ordinances.

Council members voted late Tuesday to purchase the Kallas property--4.6 acres of vacant hilltop land on which James and Darlean Kallas had planned more than 30 years ago to build their home.

“I’m relieved that this struggle of many years has ended,” James Kallas said Wednesday. “I think the City Council finally did the right thing.”

Even before Thousand Oaks became a city, the Kallases began purchasing lots on Mt. Clef with plans to one day construct a ridge-top home with expansive views of the Santa Rosa and Conejo valleys.

But community concerns over protecting the hilltops surrounding Thousand Oaks from encroaching development prompted a series of local ordinances and rules that eventually made it too expensive for the Kallases to build.

After fighting the city for years, the Kallases were willing to sell the property for $85,000--about half of what James Kallas said he has invested over the years.

But the city hedged on purchasing the land for more than a year, debating the propriety of buying private property rendered virtually unsuitable for construction by city actions.

The city Finance Committee recommended in March that the city not buy the property. But committee member and Councilman Andrew Fox subsequently changed his mind.

“It is a piece of property that does have open-space value,” Fox said Tuesday night. “There is a public benefit to purchasing this property.”