Thousand Oaks Council Facing Deadlocks in New Year : Politics: Key decisions on development projects may face delays as divided board awaits election of fifth member, most likely in June.

By MARY F. POLS

Dec. 31, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

For Thousand Oaks, 1995 may end up being the Year of the Stalemate, as the city most likely waits until June to elect a fifth member to its council.

With four council members whose basic ideological bents appear to split neatly down the line, the city’s governing body is expected to spend half the year deadlocked, particularly on development issues that will shape the future of the Conejo Valley.

The fate of two major projects in Newbury Park--one residential and one commercial--will be debated in courtrooms and in council chambers. Meanwhile, a stunning court reversal of an earlier council decision on a third Newbury Park development is expected to haunt the city in 1995.

The question on many minds in Thousand Oaks is just how clear-cut that split will be and whether the stormy Tuesday nights of recent years will continue.

“We seem to be getting through some fairly meaty issues,” said the newest council member, Andy Fox. “While we have disagreed, it did not get personal. We need to win back the trust of the community.”

The first issue they disagreed on was how to fill the vacancy left by Councilman Frank Schillo’s election to the Board of Supervisors this fall. Fox and Councilwoman Judy Lazar favored appointing Mike Markey, who ran fourth in November’s council election. But council members Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski say voters deserve a special election this June.

Until then, Fox said he is prepared to grant continuances to some applicants--including the developers of the Seventh-day Adventist property in Newbury Park--whose project deadlines fall before June 6, when the special election will probably be held.

“If they would like a continuance, I’ll be happy to grant one,” Fox said. “Whether it be a homeowner or a large project, I think people are entitled to a five-member council.”

But even as some officials and residents gloomily anticipate a six-month period of indecision and 2-2 votes, others are looking toward 1995 as an opportunity to rethink the pace of development.

With the wishes of many fulfilled by the completion of the Civic Arts Plaza this year, the city now has the opportunity to stretch out like a fat cat and comfortably consider its future.

“1995 will be the looking glass for our future,” Zeanah said. “Will the city continue its unique lifestyle? Or will the city throw away the rule book in deference to maximizing profit? What’s at stake, the most important thing, is open space and its preservation.”

Zukowski, a frequent Zeanah ally, agreed that the city should reflect long and hard on how it deals with growth and development issues in the next year.

“The city will be complete in the next 10 years,” Zukowski said. “Development has been the hand that feeds us, but we now have to look at things in the long term, now that we will no longer have that resource. We won’t always be negotiating for what we can get from this new project.

“My hope is that we can correct the fact that we have become reactive in our land-use policies,” she added. “The times are different now, and a more fiscally conservative approach is called for.”

In the new year, the city will consider two potential sites for golf courses that are likely to be controversial with environmentalists--one at Broome Ranch and one at Hill Canyon.

“I would like to see the city start moving towards adding another golf course,” Fox said. “The facts are pretty clear that Los Robles Golf Course gets a lot of extra play and is a great moneymaker for the city.”

As they debate new projects, council members hope to clear one lingering problem from 1994: the legal fallout from a proposed development on the Cohan property in Newbury Park. The decision of a state appellate court that the council wrongfully denied the Cohans permission to build on the land may leave the city open to a potential lawsuit.

With reserve funds drained by the financing of the Civic Arts Plaza, Thousand Oaks is in a vulnerable position and may end up settling with the Cohan family.

“I don’t know whether they are open to negotiations,” Fox said. “Hopefully some kind of mutual agreement can be worked out with the Cohans and the city, without costing the taxpayers too much.”

While the Civic Arts Plaza is expected to draw more visitors from outside the county and act as a showplace for Thousand Oaks, the expense of its construction is likely to leave the city with some unfulfilled wishes for 1995.

The longed-for revitalization of Thousand Oaks Boulevard--which some view as a disorganized, messy blight in an otherwise exemplary community--will probably go by the wayside.

“I don’t see a lot happening along Thousand Oaks Boulevard,” Fox said with a sigh. “The redevelopment agency is pretty much tapped out.”

But City Manager Grant Brimhall said some improvements will progress, funded primarily by private enterprise. The city will put in new sidewalks with disabled accesses, he said.

“It’s not going to be a massive urban renewal project, no,” he said. “It is going to be a very reasoned, private-investor-driven revitalization with some public funds contributing.”

Instead, the city will focus on a more modest but still uncertain goal, providing $3.3 million in funding for two school projects: an auditorium at Thousand Oaks and a stadium at Westlake High.

“I think that will be realized,” Zeanah said.

Most city officials pointed to stepped-up efforts to maintain public safety as a priority for the year. Brimhall said the city is actively pursuing federal funding from the 1994 Crime Bill and may move toward establishing a storefront police station.

Zeanah said she will push for increased neighborhood policing, involving residents in keeping their own communities safe.

“I’m giving my priority attention to that,” she said. “It rethinks government’s role as the solver of problems. Instead, it supports and nurtures strong neighborhood organizations. This will become a new reality in 1995.”

Book-loving residents may suffer through another year of displacement at the Thousand Oaks library’s main branch. While the building’s chronic leaky roof problem seems to have been mostly solved by repairs this year, extensive work is still needed to fix ceiling damage from the Jan. 17 earthquake.

City officials will vote Tuesday on whether to move the bulk of the collection to the old City Hall at 2400 Willow Lane for several months to avoid further disruption to library-goers.