Thousand Oaks Panels Getting New Members

The new year will mean new faces on several city commissions and committees.

Primary among the open commission seats are three slots on the city’s five-member Planning Commission, which oversees approval of major building development projects and matters pertaining to zoning, special-use permits and land-use studies.

Commission seats are being vacated by retiring members Marilyn Carpenter and Chairman Ronald Polanski, as well as Commissioner Forrest Frields, whose term expires this year.

The planning commissioners’ terms generally run concurrent with terms of the City Council members who appoint them. New council members Dan Del Campo and Dennis Gillette, as well as Councilman Andy Fox, each have said they have narrowed their potential nominees to a “short list,” but have declined to disclose their endorsements.

There also will be four vacancies on the city’s five-member Board of Appeals, another key construction board that decides appeals of orders and decisions made by city building officials, including interpretation of the building codes and variances on construction standards. Like the Planning Commission, candidates are nominated by council members. If elected, their terms run concurrently with council terms. The exception: One of the positions open this year stems from a resignation, and will run until November 2000.

At least seven slots will open on the city’s biannual Community Budget Task Force, which advises the council on fiscal issues and helps draft a report of budget and finance recommendations for the city’s two-year budget cycle.

The next budget takes effect July 1, and runs through 2001.

Appointments are scheduled to be made Jan. 19, with the first meeting set for Jan. 26.

Del Campo and Gillette, as new council members, each will receive three nominations, while one additional member will be appointed by the entire council.