Thousand Oaks City Council Issues Apologies

The new Thousand Oaks City Council majority forced its political agenda this week by issuing an apology to a slow-growth ally, further limiting construction of new dwellings and reopening negotiations to purchase and preserve vacant land near the Dos Vientos subdivision in Newbury Park.

The new majority Tuesday night approved on a 3-0 vote a written apology to former Councilwoman Linda Parks and two fired planning commissioners, as holdover council members Andy Fox and Dennis Gillette sat silently and abstained from the vote.

Fox and Gillette voted earlier this year to censure Parks, then a candidate for county Board of Supervisors, after accusing her of violating the state’s open-meeting law by conferring illegally with the two commissioners. A district attorney’s investigation subsequently cleared all three of wrongdoing.

“I was disappointed they abstained,” Councilman Ed Masry said. “Frankly, I think they should have stepped up to the plate and voted for it.”

Masry wrote the resolution calling for the apology and reversal of the public record against Parks and former commissioners Michael Farris and Nora Aidukas, who were dismissed in February.

“I just hope that what we did last night will prevent anybody from doing it in the future, because they’ll realize that what goes around comes around,” Masry said.

Before the vote, a dozen speakers endorsed the apology as a way to heal an old wound.

“Correcting this wrong is the right move to make,” resident Sheri White, a teacher, said. White said she hoped that “by cleaning the slate” the council would start the new year with a spirit of collaboration and cooperation.

Aidukas told the council before its decision that she appreciated the gesture. “No matter how the council votes tonight, I want to thank Mr. Masry for providing this elegant means to shake hands, make up and move on,” she said.

The city attorney advised the council to rewrite the final paragraph of Masry’s resolution, saying expunging the record by defacing the minutes of the panel’s Feb. 13 meeting would be a felony. Instead, the language eventually approved stated the council would “rescind, repeal and annul” Parks’ censure.

“I prefer expunging over the tamer version,” Councilwoman Claudia Bill-de la Pena said before her vote.

Masry agreed with the revised language, but directed city lawyers to review whether a minor change to his original resolution would permit the record to be expunged without violating state law. The matter could return to the council for a separate vote.

The panel was unanimous in extending an ordinance that sets limits on housing construction through 2007. The council halved the city’s yearly allotment to 250 dwellings, despite protests from development interests.

But the panel split on a proposal by Bill-de la Pena to reopen negotiations with Operating Engineers Pension Trust, which owns 8.7 acres in Newbury Park that the new council majority wants to acquire for permanent open space.

In exchange for permission to build three luxury homes on the site, the landowner earlier agreed to give the city $2.5 million to help pay for an equestrian center on nearby public open space at Rancho Potrero.

“I’m concerned about the current council going through and trying to undo the actions of previous councils. I’m drawing the line at this project,” Fox said. “It’s good for the city of Thousand Oaks, it’s good for the equestrians and it’s good for the people of Dos Vientos” who want existing riding facilities in the area replaced.

Despite protests by Fox and Gillette, the council voted 3 to 2 to begin a new round of negotiations. Lawyer Mark C. Allen, who represents Operating Engineers, said he had no comment.