Lesson in Planning

The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, but there are few straight lines on the map of Thousand Oaks.

And if the developers of the Woodridge neighborhood thought it would be a relatively short, straight ride from winning City Council approval for their project in September to breaking ground and beginning to build, they learned otherwise last week.

That is when an apparent speed bump over attendance boundaries for the new Lang Ranch Elementary School turned into a full barricade--at least temporarily.

Neighborhood residents learned of the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s plan to reserve space in Lang Ranch for some 80 hypothetical children who may one day live in Woodridge while busing some very real children who already live within a mile of the campus to more distant schools.

No you don’t, they declared. Kids who could walk to the new school ought to be able to. Since the kids who live up the hill in Woodridge will have to ride to school anyway, let them be the ones to go across California 23 to Ladera, Weathersfield or Park Oaks elementaries.

After two school district attempts to redraw the map failed to settle the issue, Councilman Andy Fox decided to withhold the next round of approvals for the 252 new homes until city and school district officials can work things out.

Fox, one of three council members who voted to approve the project, said his support was based on assurances that Woodridge would not adversely affect schools in the area. The developer agreed to pay $1.8 million to the school district to add space for expected Woodridge students, but it is up to the district to decide where. Faced with the new delay, the developer on Friday asked to have Woodridge students dropped from Lang School.

The City Council will discuss the matter Tuesday. Meanwhile, the school district will hold a study session Tuesday evening and cast final votes on the attendance boundaries Wednesday.

Neighbors of Lang Ranch Elementary are right to demand that the school district find a way to serve existing and closer students first. The ability to walk to schools--or to work, for that matter--is exactly the sort of good planning that will help keep Ventura County’s quality of life high even as the population inevitably grows.

We join the City Council in encouraging them to work it out.