Council to Consider Issue of City’s Future

Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Elois Zeanah says she doesn’t know what her city is going to look like in the future. But she wants to.

Zeanah is asking her colleagues on the City Council tonight to approve a computer-generated model of Thousand Oaks in 2020, the last year covered by the city’s current General Plan--its blueprint for growth.

The model--which would take predicted traffic volumes, noise levels and air pollution into account, as well as houses and shopping centers that may still be built--could then be presented to the public in a series of town hall meetings, Zeanah wrote in a memo to the council.

The residents’ opinions could be used to determine whether Thousand Oaks leaders need to consider changes to make sure the future corresponds with their visions of it.

Zeanah would also like the council to review how Thousand Oaks leaders have fared in their efforts to protect the city’s ridgelines and hillsides from development.

Thousand Oaks, Zeanah said, needs to determine “how to address the trend of developments creeping higher and higher as property owners subdivide and build on their hillside properties.”