City Councilwoman Urges Quick Action on Road Extension

City Councilwoman Linda Parks has urged the council to expedite the staff report on the Borchard Road extension and have the council resolve the issue before the Nov. 3 election.

Parks said she plans to bring the matter to council debate at its meeting Tuesday night.

The council approved the Newbury Park road two years ago at a 12% grade, which is 5% more than the Conejo Grade and 7% steeper than city code allows. But a report commissioned by one of the developers deemed the road dangerously steep, sparking widespread resident protest and prompting the council to issued a stop-work order July 14.

As part of that order, the council directed city staff to study the issue for six months, which Parks now seeks to speed up.

“We need this matter addressed sooner rather than later,” said Newbury Park resident Laura Lee Custodio, a City Council candidate endorsed by Parks who became active in politics because of the Borchard Road issue. “The council should not be able to hide from this issue.”

But Mayor Mike Markey, also a resident of Newbury Park, said he has no intention of changing the council’s timetable.

“It’s not that we decided to put this issue off,” Markey said. “The homeowners said they wanted a new traffic study done, and that’s exactly what we’re doing for them. That’s exactly what the speakers asked for when we were considering the stop-work order.”

Borchard Road, when completed, will feed the 2,350-unit, $700-million Dos Vientos housing development. The stop-work order halted construction with less than 300 feet left.