Panel Says Budget Follows General Plan

Most, but not all, of Thousand Oaks’ $56-million capital-improvement budget complies with the city’s General Plan, according to the city’s Planning Commission.

Commissioners reached that verdict Monday after complaining that they had been given too little time to analyze the dense and detailed budget, which spells out how much the city will spend on various construction projects during the next two years.

Only one budget allocation, for a proposed sound wall along California 23 between La Jolla and La Granada drives, violated a section of the General Plan, commissioners said.

Although they decided the sound wall did not comply with the plan’s scenic highway element, they did agree that it was consistent with the plan’s noise element.

The budget will now return to the City Council for a public hearing May 14.

During the meeting, commissioners debated sending the plan back to the council without commission comments.

Commissioner John Powers said the panel had been asked to “rubber-stamp” the complex document and abstained from voting on it.

However, the California Government Code requires that the budget first undergo Planning Commission review before the City Council votes on it.

Despite expressing frustration with the review process, the other four commissioners went through the document section by section before sending their comments to the council.