Dos Vientos Project OKd a Second Time

Ordered by a judge to revisit a controversial decision to allow detached condominiums--essentially big homes on small lots--in the Dos Vientos development, the Thousand Oaks City Council upheld its earlier decision.

After a four-hour public hearing on the matter that ran from late Tuesday into early Wednesday, the council voted 3-2 to allow the condos, with Councilwomen Linda Parks and Elois Zeanah dissenting.

Hundreds of residents crammed the council chambers for the decision.

Friends of the detached-condo plan wore buttons with a big blue “DVA” on them--which stands for Dos Vientos Amigos. Foes of the proposal, which permits smaller yards and taller houses than the city generally allows, had their own emblem: stickers with a red slash over the words “3-foot sideyards.”

At issue was whether the City Council should allow developer Courtly Homes and builder Pacific Greystone Homes to erect 208 one- and two-story detached condominiums of up to five bedrooms on a parcel that was earmarked for 224 standard duplex units.

A judge recently ordered the city to reconsider its approval of the project in 1996 because proper procedures were not followed.

People who have been looking for homes in Newbury Park told the council that the detached homes are more desirable than others available. The detached buildings, they said, would give residents a home of their own that does not share a wall with the next-door neighbor. And, they said, the buildings would all be separated by at least 10 feet, not 3.

Critics, including representatives of the group Save Open Space, which had sued the city over the decision, disagreed. They said the decision was nothing less than a referendum on growth and that the city was violating its own standards on driveway lengths, building heights and yard sizes.