Sport X Marks the Spot as Target of Irate Citizens

The developer has yet to file any plans, and the city’s school and park districts would have to sign off on the proposal before it ever reaches the City Council.

But there is already overwhelming opposition to the so-called Sport X center, which would convert part of Thousand Oaks’ most popular park into a private, for-profit sports complex. And the City Council is feeling the heat.

“You’re going to have one hell of a fight on your hands to transfer that to private gain,” Michael Hagopian told the council during its quarterly town hall meeting at Cal Lutheran University on Tuesday, eliciting a roar from the standing-room-only crowd.

Saying the high quality of life they treasure is at risk, many residents are concerned that Conejo Creek Park, located next to Janss Road beside the Moorpark Freeway, will become a private haven for out-of town athletes.

Site of the annual Conejo Valley Days festival, the parkland is currently used by everyone from horse lovers to dog trainers to youth soccer leagues. An eclectic group of supporters has banded together to derail the Sport X proposal before it gathers any momentum.

“The general feeling is that people want this to go away,” said Gina Smurthwaite of Equestrian Trails Inc., which represents about 250 horse owners. “They like their park as it is. People are going to attend every meeting until this is gone.”

The proposed Sport X complex--expected to cost between $25 million and $35 million--would include soccer fields, volleyball and basketball courts, a track and field stadium, a roller hockey rink, an indoor swimming pool, two gymnasiums and a cafeteria.

Thousand Oaks businessman Dave Gulbranson, who is leading the push for the Sport X project, said the complex has been the victim of misinformation and hysteria. He said Sport X would benefit the city’s youth by giving them more things to do.

“It’s incomprehensible to me that a local person who wants to do something for our youth has to go through something like this,” he said. “People are acting like we’re going to build the Coliseum, The Oaks mall and the Civic Arts Plaza all in one.”

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The Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Conejo Valley Unified School District own the 80 acres where Gulbranson proposes to build Sport X. The governing bodies of both agencies would have to agree to sell or lease the land before the proposal reached city leaders.

Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified schools, said Gulbranson spoke to school board members about his concept during a public meeting several months ago, but never followed through with a detailed proposal. Gulbranson said Wednesday that he is still working on the plans for the project.

Tex Ward from the park district said he has spoken several times with backers of Sport X, including former Planning Commissioner Merv Kopp. But the district has not received any detailed plans and said any effort to lease parkland would be open to a number of bidders.

Nevertheless, some of the residents who oppose the Sport X proposal chose to air their angry opinions before the City Council at its town hall meeting Tuesday night. Indeed, the clear majority of the 120 residents who packed Cal Lutheran’s Nelson Room to lambaste council members were there to vent about Sport X.

“Would anybody consider putting a complex like this in Westlake?” said Roy Thorsen, suggesting that parkland near the Conejo Oaks neighborhood was being considered because its residents were less affluent.

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A representative of the Sport X developers, Cal Lutheran professor Robert Shoup, tried to discuss the merits of the proposal and explain to residents that it was still in conceptual stages. He was interrupted numerous times by heckling residents.

The town hall meeting was intended solely to be a one-way exchange, a forum for council members to hear residents’ concerns and make brief remarks afterward. But the residents demanded to know the city’s position on Sport X.

City Manager Grant Brimhall said Thousand Oaks had yet to receive any formal request to consider the sports complex, but he added that as a general rule, the city does not consider any proposal unless it has public backing.

“I have four grandchildren who play soccer on that play field,” Brimhall said. “I have a bias, I must admit.”

Council members said afterward that they would not take positions on Sport X until the proposal reaches the City Council, if it ever does at all, because they needed to be objective. But they stressed that they understood residents’ concerns, and would not forget what people had said.

“I think we’ve heard you loud and clear,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “You don’t want private development for profit on public land.”

That’s a start, Smurthwaite said. But until Sport X is thwarted, the council is going to be earing a lot more.

“Sport X has made a lot of people angry,” she said.