Public Notice in Thousand Oaks
Re “Where Knowledge Can Be Power,” Ventura County editorial, April 16.
Improving public notification of proposed neighborhood developments is a laudable objective for the Thousand Oaks City Council. However, merely increasing the requirement to post a project notification sign from 30 to 90 days doesn’t go far enough, because public notification is only the first step to an informed public.
What is needed are better mechanisms of dispensing detailed information about the project. There are many technologies now available to us to accomplish this. At a minimum, the city should require developers to submit all project documents in electronic form and make them available online.
Additionally, it could establish a telephone hotline for dispensing information about proposed projects. Ten or even five years ago, expanding the use of public hearing signs might have made sense. Now with many households and libraries connected to the Internet it is important to utilize today’s technologies to further the efforts of our city to keep its citizens informed.
BRUCE TUCKER
Thousand Oaks
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