Hoffman Seeks Post as Planner

Millionaire businessman Randy Hoffman has thrown his name into a pool of candidates hoping to be appointed to the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission tonight.

Hoffman will be nominated by Councilman Dan Del Campo, who said he supports the former technology executive “100%.”

“He’s demonstrated a tremendous amount of willingness to serve his community,” Del Campo said. “He has intelligence and independence. I believe he will serve this community well.”

Hoffman was defeated for an open seat on the Board of Supervisors earlier this month by Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Linda Parks. Hoffman also lost a congressional contest in 1998.

But Hoffman said Parks’ six-point margin in the supervisor’s race tells him that he has plenty of support in the Thousand Oaks area. Parks won 53% of the vote in the March 5 primary, compared with 47% for Hoffman.

“A lot of political pundits think if we didn’t have a record low turnout, the results would have been different,” Hoffman said.

Planning commissioners review housing projects and other development proposals. Each City Council member is permitted to nominate an applicant, who must then be approved by a council majority.

Parks, who doesn’t join the Board of Supervisors until Jan. 1, said she opposes Hoffman’s appointment because he received large contributions from developers and others with ties to the building industry in his campaign for supervisor.

Hoffman raised $450,000 to Parks’ $106,000.

“Each council member can nominate someone who is representative of their perspective,” Parks said. “I would just like to see that he recuses himself when voting on projects sponsored by developers he took money from.”

Hoffman said his financial independence--he sold a successful technology company in 1997--and Ivy League education have prepared him well to make tough decisions. If appointed, he will push for the same slow-growth policies embraced by many Thousand Oaks residents, Hoffman said.

“Everyone in the Conejo Valley supports slow growth,” he said. “My philosophy certainly hasn’t changed. I am a slow-growth advocate. I will work hard to protect the quality of life that we enjoy here.”

Parks said she suspects that Hoffman is trying for a Planning Commission appointment “to put something on his resume” should he decide to run for a City Council seat. Hoffman said he hasn’t thought about that.

Parks said she plans to nominate Janice Osterhaven to fill a second open seat on the five-member Planning Commission.

Osterhaven is a researcher in Mayor Ed Masry’s law firm and helped Parks organize a campaign to stop construction of a dam near the Lang Ranch neighborhood.

Parks said she fears her Osterhaven nomination will be blocked by a parliamentary move by the council majority. Three of the council members--Del Campo, Andy Fox and Dennis Gillette--have been at loggerheads with Parks and Masry on a number of issues.