Former City Hall Site Deemed a Landmark

Formalizing an earlier action, the City Council has declared the “eyebrows on the hill,” the former city hall buildings at Hillcrest Drive, a city landmark.

Thousand Oaks council members, acting as the city’s Cultural Heritage Board, voted unanimously Tuesday to enact an ordinance declaring the buildings’ facades landmarks.

“There seems to be unanimous agreement on this issue,” said Mayor Judy Lazar.

However, the action in no way prevents the buildings from someday being altered or even demolished, a scenario the council has decided to keep open.

One of the two former city hall buildings will soon be occupied by the National Park Service, which will make it the headquarters for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The other remains empty.

The City Council also voted to turn a dead oak once dedicated a “Freedom Tree” in honor of Capt. Eric Huberth, a Vietnam pilot missing in action, into a sculpture. The city’s Arts Commission will oversee the creation of the sculpture, which will be dedicated to all Vietnam veterans.

The City Council agreed to dedicate another tree to Huberth. And council members voted to look at moving the other freedom tree, as well as a 12-foot sapling believed to be an offspring of the dead tree, to another site, possibly the city’s Veterans Memorial at Conejo Creek Park.