Thousand Oaks Council Chooses Fox as Mayor

In a gesture of cooperation, the Thousand Oaks City Council’s new slow-growth majority has chosen Councilman Andy Fox as mayor instead of one of its own.

Incoming council members Bob Wilson Sr. and Claudia Bill-de la Pena, both part of a slate of candidates backed by outgoing Mayor Ed Masry in November, joined Masry and Councilman Dennis Gillette in backing Fox.

“Just in terms of fairness, it was my turn as mayor,” Fox said.

He said he isn’t making too much of the one-year appointment. “I’ve conducted myself in a civil and professional way for eight years and expect all the members will do the same.”

Fox, a firefighter who received the most votes in last month’s council election, was sworn in for a third four-year term in a special reorganization meeting Tuesday night.

Gillette, a retired assistant sheriff, was sworn in for a second term. And newcomers Wilson, who runs the Cisco’s restaurant chain, and television producer Bill-de la Pena, began their first terms.

Wilson was chosen mayor pro tem, Fox’s previous post. If council tradition holds, Wilson, who is finishing the unexpired council term of incoming county Supervisor Linda Parks, would be in line to serve as mayor in 2004, when he would be up for reelection.

“Overdevelopment lessens our quality of life and though it is a lucrative business, money alone cannot be the basis for land-use decisions,” Wilson said. “Money does not talk; people do. And I am here to listen.”

Wilson said the new council should demonstrate over the next two years “how much can be done to institute true slow growth” through preservation of open space and ridgelines, effective traffic management and neighborhood enhancements. It should also provide “an even playing field where the voices of residents and small business are heard as loudly as big developers.”

Bill-de la Pena said the election of a slow-growth council majority does not signal an end to business opportunities in Thousand Oaks. “It is my intent to continue the strong relationship the city has enjoyed with not only small businesses, but big ones as well,” she said.

But Bill-de la Pena, chairwoman of the city’s Planning Commission before her election, said developers must recognize that “the health, welfare and safety of our residents come above their bottom line.”

She declared exceptions to city rules sometimes granted in the past to be “an endangered species.”

Bill-de la Pena said the council was beginning an era of restrictive growth and suggested that top city administrators follow a new path.

“I expect to have the full support from the city manager and city attorney’s office,” she said, to pursue a proposal suggested by one of her unsuccessful running mates.

Former Planning Commissioner Michael Farris, one of four candidates on the slow-growth slate, wants the city to acquire an 8.7-acre parcel of land south of Potrero Road in Newbury Park as permanent open space, rather than permit development of three estate homes. Farris lost a lawsuit he filed against the city seeking to prevent construction at the site.

Bill-de la Pena said she plans to ask the council at Tuesday’s meeting to authorize the start of negotiations with the landowner, Operating Engineers Pension Trust.

The city earlier worked out a deal with Operating Engineers to allow construction of the expensive homes in exchange for it providing $2.5 million to help pay for a public equestrian center at nearby Rancho Potrero. The city is circulating a preliminary environmental review on that project at the former Broome Ranch.

The City Council also authorized sending Wilson and Bill-de la Pena to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to oppose development of Ahmanson Ranch east of Thousand Oaks, until additional traffic and environmental studies are done.