Planning Board OKs Final Phase of Dos Vientos Development
After an eleventh-hour skirmish marked by legal threats, apparent math errors and a standing ovation, developers of the much-delayed, often-maligned Dos Vientos project have won another victory.
The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission voted 3 to 2 to approve the final piece of the massive 2,350-unit development Monday night, bringing developer Arlen Miller closer to the end of a 20-year struggle. The last phase, which a spokesman called the “heart and soul” of the project, includes an elementary school, a child-care center, an apartment complex, a commercial center and 632 single-family homes.
“It has been a long time coming,” Dos Vientos homeowner Kathy Frasher said. She joined about 100 members of the developer-backed advocacy group Dos Vientos Amigos at the meeting, which at one point gave the development a standing ovation.
But the approval came only after hours of often contentious public comments about alleged flaws in a critical traffic study and debate over a reshuffling of housing units that previously had been forbidden by the City Council.
And the vote may not be the last; critics said they may appeal the decision.
Jim Nelson, a homeowners association spokesman who said he is not opposed to the Dos Vientos project, led the charge against a 1994 traffic study that he called “fatally flawed.” The study underpins the development’s environmental report, portions of which needed approval Monday.
After demonstrating that some numbers in the traffic study do not appear to add up as they should, Nelson asked that the commission delay approval of the environmental report until a new study is done.
Although some commission members said they were disturbed by the apparent discrepancies, Assistant City Atty. Nancy Schreiner said the issue was moot because the traffic portions of the study had already been approved.
Only supplements to the study, none of which dealt with traffic, were subject to a vote, she said.
Even after his traffic study victory, commissioners questioned developer Miller’s request to transfer 16 single-family homes from one parcel to several others, eliminating about 12 apartment units in the process.
In 1996, the City Council gave Miller permission to build detached dwellings instead of attached units with the understanding that he would sacrifice 16 homes. After environmentalists sued, the Ventura County Superior Court voided the decision for technical reasons, forcing the council to vote again.
The council approved the detached homes in February, but did not mention the transfer of the 16 houses.
Developer spokesman Bob Haaland told the commission Monday that any decision to limit the house transfer would violate the city’s contract with Miller and could result in a lawsuit.
Haaland also promised to bring the 12 apartments back into the project, on which the first phase of construction has begun.
Commissioners Ronald Polanski, John Powers and Forrest Frields approved the project with the density transfers. Commissioners Marilyn Carpenter and Dave Anderson opposed the measure.
