Newbury Park Residents Oppose Developments

No, they were not holding pitchforks and torches, but residents of this city’s Newbury Park section lit into the City Council on Tuesday during a fiery town hall meeting.

From a lighting and landscaping assessment district that will result in new bills for many homeowners, to several new developments that threaten to alter Newbury Park’s semirural character, people thought they had plenty to complain about during the meeting at the area branch of the Thousand Oaks Library.

“I hate the fact that Newbury Park is going to the dogs,” said Jocelyn Devault, a nine-year Newbury Park resident.

It was a tame evening, however, compared to the first town hall meeting earlier this year. On that occasion, the council was overwhelmed by residents who wanted to annihilate Sport X, a proposal to build a for-profit athletic center at Conejo Creek Park in central Thousand Oaks.

This time, despite the often emotional debate, council members were able to accomplish their objective for the town hall meetings: They not only listened to the unfettered opinions of citizens on local issues, but they also got the chance to respond.

A former unincorporated community that makes up roughly one-fourth of the city’s population, Newbury Park has a reputation as a haven for horse lovers and others longing for an escape from urban hustle and bustle.

But many of the area’s estimated 28,000 residents are concerned that several development plans--most notably the Cohan and Dos Vientos proposals--could bring more crowds to the area and tarnish its beautiful surroundings.

The Cohan development, an unpopular, decade-old plan to build houses and a strip mall on environmentally sensitive Newbury Park property, has made a comeback--and many residents are not happy about it.

The project was shot down by the City Council in 1992, but a state court ruled in 1994 that council members denied developer Nedjatollah Cohan his due process rights by appealing the project to themselves, giving in to “the roar of the crowd” rather than using good judgment.

Hoping to avoid a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from the Cohan family, Thousand Oaks settled the dispute earlier this year by agreeing to allow the developer to build a slightly downsized project that includes a 117,000-square-foot shopping center, up to 105 single-family homes and 65 apartment units.

“I wasn’t happy about that, but please understand, there isn’t much we could do,” said Councilman Mike Markey, a Newbury Park resident. “Had we gone to court, I’ll be honest with you, we would have paid millions of dollars.”

Plans to develop Dos Vientos Ranch, another pending project, were also a lively topic of discussion. Courtly Homes, one of two developers planning to build homes at the ranch, has defaulted on more than $800,000 in fees to the city over the past two years, and some residents have asked the City Council to downsize the project.

Although council members have not addressed that issue, Markey last week announced that he had a solution to one of Newbury Park’s nagging problems: a lack of sports facilities.

Markey said he had persuaded Dos Vientos developers to build a sports complex as part of their proposal.

Although some residents applauded that, others slammed it, noting that Dos Vientos would double the area’s population.

“Am I willing to trash my neighborhood for new ball fields?” said Trish Kellogg, a seven-year Newbury Park resident. “No way.”

In addition, some residents criticized city leaders for establishing a new citywide system in which all residents will be charged for the maintenance of public lighting and landscaping. Currently, about 30% of Thousand Oaks’ home and business owners are paying to maintain most of the city’s public shrubbery, and about 77% pay for all public lighting.

The new system will result in sharp cuts for many residents--many of whom are now paying more than $140 a year. But it will also result in charges of about $24 to $28 a year for many residents who are paying nothing--including some who do not even have public lighting or landscaping in their neighborhoods.