Property Owners to Vote on Plan for Lighting, Landscaping Districts

Approved by state voters last year, Proposition 218 gives property owners veto power over fees charged for an array of special services to maintain their neighborhoods.

But do Thousand Oaks residents really want the bushes to shrivel near Westlake Boulevard or the street lights in their cul-de-sac to be turned off at night?

Probably not.

That is a worst-case scenario, considered extremely unlikely, but it could happen if Thousand Oaks property owners do not approve new lighting and landscape districts in the wake of Proposition 218.

Because the law requires a clear relationship between the amount property owners are assessed and the benefit they receive in their area, Thousand Oaks cannot continue its current citywide assessment districts, which are raising about $2 million a year.

To fix the problem, the City Council decided at a workshop Tuesday night to pursue new citywide lighting and landscaping districts that would more closely tie expenditures to specific areas.

Main streets would be maintained with property taxes under the new proposal.

Thousand Oaks will mail a ballot to each affected property owner next spring, and the returned ballots will decide the fate of the assessment districts. A public hearing is set for May.

Each vote will be weighted in proportion to the property owner’s assessment, so major landowners will have more voting power than average homeowners. Public agencies are not exempt from the districts, so they too will have a powerful vote.

Tuesday’s council workshop began with a summary of the effects of Proposition 218, a source of great confusion among local government officials.

The bottom line for Thousand Oaks is that the law has no significant impacts other than citywide districts to pay for lighting and landscaping.

The current assessment districts must be scrapped by July 1, because Proposition 218 specifically prohibits raising such maintenance fees for “general benefit.”

Certain assessments, such as those for flood control and sidewalks, are exempt, but lighting and landscaping are not.