After Fence-Mending Fails, District Readies Suit Over Traffic Barricade

A nagging neighborhood dispute escalated Wednesday when school district officials vowed to move forward with plans to sue the city if a plastic fence blocking the back entrance of the Conejo Valley Adult School is not removed immediately.

“The board [of education] has directed me . . . to initiate a lawsuit and contact our attorneys,” said Assistant Supt. Richard Simpson of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

His comments came a day after the Thousand Oaks City Council met to discuss the adult school. At a fiery Tuesday night meeting, city leaders could not agree to remove the barrier, erected in August after years of residents’ complaints about traffic caused by adult school students.

Instead, the council debated for almost 90 minutes before deciding to send Councilman Andy Fox to meet with school trustees to hash out a resolution.

At a Jan. 15 meeting of school, parks and city officials, schools Supt. Jerry Gross said his board would drop its lawsuit threat if the barrier was torn down. In return, he pledged that the adult school’s back gate would remain closed to student traffic except in cases of emergency and rare special events.

“I don’t know what other course we could take,” school board President Dolores Didio said Wednesday. “Our hand was forced. It wasn’t our intention to sue. But we’ve said what we’re willing to do, and the city didn’t remove the barrier. Unfortunately, I feel that the city wanted this suit.”

Setting up yet another meeting about a topic that has been debated for five years isn’t good enough, Simpson said.

“What we heard from the City Council action [Tuesday night] was something that’s not sufficient: that there will be another meeting for . . . the residents to get all stirred up,” he said. “The time for meetings has lapsed. It’s time to take the next step, which is to take a legal remedy.”

When informed that a lawsuit could be imminent, Thousand Oaks Mayor Mike Markey sighed. “They must have seen last night’s meeting, huh?”

Both Markey and Fox said they hoped a meeting with school officials could be arranged before litigation proceeds. But after comments made at the council’s Tuesday meeting, Fox said the trustees he has spoken with are hurt and reticent to talk with the city again.

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Councilwoman Linda Parks, who represented the city in the Jan. 15 meeting along with Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, said she was confused by the school district’s actions. If the school board is already reducing the number of students at the adult school and cutting the number of classes, why won’t it sign an agreement to that effect, as Parks and Zeanah had suggested, Parks asked.

“Why won’t they put it in writing?” Parks asked Wednesday.

A lawsuit “is just a waste of public funds, a waste of money,” she said. “You wonder if a corporation would act so irresponsibly.”

Such comments have angered school board members.

Implying that school officials cannot be trusted is no way to negotiate, said Fox, who said he apologized to trustees Wednesday.

“I can’t say I blame them [for vowing to sue] after the way they were treated last night,” he said. “They are a sovereign government agency. They have been responsive and responsible to the city’s requests. . . . For the council to have the arrogance to pretend to tell the district what to do with their property--when they’ve agreed to close the gate--I can hardly blame them.”

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For half a decade, neighbors have complained that adult school students cause excessive traffic on the streets of their semi-rural, equestrian neighborhood.

The city’s answer last summer was to erect a temporary barrier to block cars from entering the school off Waverly Heights Drive. The school district in August countered with a lawsuit threat if the barrier wasn’t removed. School trustees, not City Council members, should control the district’s facilities and operations, school officials argued.

Within weeks, school officials and city leaders met and agreed to hold off on a suit for three to four months while the two sides worked toward a permanent accord. But no agreement has been reached, and trustees say time’s up.

The adult school issue came to a head Tuesday with two separate actions. First, board President Didio sent the letter chastising city leaders for not living up to their agreement. Then, council members could not agree whether to tear down the barrier.

But three council members did reject the recommendation from Parks and Zeanah that would have required a written agreement from school leaders to reduce enrollment and cap the number of classes in exchange for the barrier coming down.

“The school district says, ‘Trust me,’ ” Parks said. “It is unfortunate that in this day and age, there is a lack of trust. . . . They say they’re reducing classes and dropping enrollment . . . so why not put it in writing?”

School leaders, however, say they resent the city’s insistence on a written guarantee.

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During debate Tuesday, Councilwoman Judy Lazar said trustees should be respected. City officials telling school leaders how many classes to hold at their schools would be like trustees trying to dictate what performances the city hosts at the Civic Arts Plaza, she added.

“I’m willing to take them at their word,” she said. “The rest of this . . . is immaterial.”

Adult school Principal Dave Woodruff said: “This is taking more energy than it’s worth. Yes, this has become a turf war.”

In their letter, school trustees listed 20 actions they have taken to ease the Waverly Heights neighbors’ woes, such as installing speed bumps at the entrances to the school, staggering class start times, relocating some adult school classes to other campuses and closing the back gate on most weeknights.

While the letter was polite, it gave city leaders a clear warning, said Trustee Dorothy Beaubien. “If they do not take the barrier down, we’ll proceed with litigation,” she said Wednesday.

Thousand Oaks City Atty. Mark Sellers said he would not comment on pending litigation.

“Generally speaking, public agencies try to avoid suing each other because we both use public funds,” he said. “So tax dollars are being used twice on both sides.”

Since the temporary barricade was erected on Waverly Heights Drive, adult school students have been forced to use the school’s only open entrance off Montgomery Road. That has increased traffic on Montgomery, one neighbor said.

“The barricade has funneled all the traffic on my street and made the problem much worse,” said resident Lisa Creps. “We’re taking all the brunt of the traffic.”

While she sympathizes with her neighbors on Waverly Heights Drive--and the traffic they endure on their narrow, windy road, Creps said the city should take the barrier down.

“They should just work it out together,” she said. “There’s no reason they can’t just sit down. . . . A lawsuit is overkill.”