City Again Considers Transit Sites

Months after scaling back the project to appease residents’ concerns, the City Council is set tonight to review revised plans for a transportation center at Rancho Road south of the Ventura Freeway.

Thousand Oaks officials initially proposed building a $3.5-million transportation hub at the 20-acre site, currently being used as a park and ride lot.

The facility, designed to link different forms of transportation in the Conejo Valley, would have included stops for public and private bus services, a taxi station, a gas station, and a smaller park and ride lot.

But residents of Rolling Oaks, the unincorporated community next to the site, complained that such a facility would bring transients and other undesirables to what was largely a residential area.

Responding to those complaints, at the beginning of the year, the Thousand Oaks City Council voted to reject a transit center at the site.

However, that decision was criticized by the Community Budget Task Force, a citizens advisory committee. The majority of the 15-member task force urged Thousand Oaks to reconsider and possibly build a less-intense transportation center at the site, noting that the city had secured $1.8 million in state and federal funds for the project that would be wasted otherwise.

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Following the task force’s suggestion, the council voted unanimously in April to build a smaller transportation center at the Rancho Road site and meet the city’s remaining transit needs by building another transportation hub elsewhere.

Tonight, the council will decide whether to approve conceptual plans for a community transportation facility at the Rancho Road site, as well as determine where the second transportation center should be located.

The revised transportation center plan, which should cost much less than the initial $3.5-million plan, features security lighting, an electric car charging station, bicycle racks and lockers, an outdoor covered shelter, three bus-loading bays and an information kiosk. It would also have 50 to 75 parking spaces for users of the transportation center and an additional 130 to 150 for ride-share commuters.

“I do think it has captured the essence of what the council wanted at that site, which is a low-intensity use,” Councilwoman Linda Parks said.

Mayor Judy Lazar agreed.

“I think it’s much more reflective of what we had in mind,” Lazar said. “It’s basically a park and ride lot with the ability to bring in buses. It’s much more compatible with the neighborhood.”

Under the new plans, however, the center would not have any restrooms--a measure taken to discourage loitering by the homeless--or enclosed facilities of any kind.

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In addition to the Rancho Road site, Thousand Oaks staff members recommend building a transfer facility for the Thousand Oaks Transit and VISTA public bus service in another part of town. The Oaks mall is currently being used for such transfers.

The new transfer facility would feature bus bays to facilitate boarding and unloading of passengers, bicycle racks and possibly lockers, security lighting, handicapped access, a covered bus shelter and an information kiosk. The cost of this project could range from $2.2 million to $15 million, depending on the site selected.

Thousand Oaks has identified numerous potential sites for such a facility and has narrowed the list to three: two at 401 W. Hillcrest Drive, the former City Hall site, and the other on Taylor Court just off Thousand Oaks Boulevard near the Moorpark Freeway. Several council members had previously indicated that they were looking for a site near Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Moorpark Road, the city’s largest commercial corridor.

Parks said that building the transfer center at the old City Hall site would make little sense, because it would be an uphill climb for The Oaks mall patrons and workers, and is not close enough to the main thoroughfares of Moorpark Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard to be convenient.

“I don’t consider that the middle of a commercial hub,” Parks said. “It seems people would have to walk a long way to get there.”