Don’t build any more in Conejo, don’t take away history

Although I have no emotional or real attachment to the CVHS, its pending demolition would only serve as another ugly example of the relentless development of the 101 freeway corridor. Just because it’s been long acknowledged as part of a commercial corridor, it doesn’t mean we have to blindly fulfill that destiny.

Much of the original appeal of the Conejo Valley was not in its shopping or exclusive homes, but instead in its setting. This used to be a pretty, oak-filled, semi-suburban bedroom community but is fast becoming just another handful of off-ramps on the freeway. Corporations and businesses fill too much of the land along the corridor from Agoura Hills to the top of the Conejo Grade . . . literally. At the current rate of development, only the golf courses will remain unpaved.

Some people are consumed with consumption, and in the Conejo Valley real estate seems to always be on the menu.

So what can you see from the freeway that is still beautiful to look at? What about the quality of our lives here as residents of the Conejo Valley? Will we leave anything standing that represents what the CV used to be, or is its future set to become another homogenized blur of stucco, fluorescent signs and sound walls, like so many other towns?

What is in the "best interest of the community" is debatable. Not everyone is of the opinion that the natural beauty of the landscape should be protected. I am by no means a "tree-hugger," but after seeing the orange-groved beauty of the San Fernando Valley, my home of 24 years, disappear under a seamless layer of strip malls, mini-malls, barbed wire and industrial parks, I have become sensitized to the unchecked development of our open spaces.

The most heinous blight on our skyline, the T.O. Civic Arts Plaza, can never enrich our community with enough world culture and entertainment to replace the part of the Conejo Valley heritage it squats on. And the "Gardens of the World"? What an unseemly, pretentious piece of puffery. What kind of people (look at the sponsor plaques) demand this kind of self-aggrandizing monument-building of its rural community?

Where has all the scenery gone? Don’t look near Lang Ranch. That bit of the Conejo was buried under thousands of acres of cookie-cutter, nouveau Mediterranean, single-family residences several years ago. It’s a pink sea of ceramic tile roofs, much like its model example, the similarly hyper-developed Stevenson Ranch in Valencia. They offer views only a developer could love. Nowadays, so-called "view homes" are those with an uninterrupted view of thousands of other "view homes."

I agree with the concept of reusing preexisting buildings, like the old Home Depot building on Ventu Park Road. How can anybody be thinking about building a new structure for Kohl’s department store when that building sits vacant? I thought the old drive-in theater property looked great, having returned to its pre-developed, natural state. It’s beautiful to see, amidst the malls, roads, and clatter of homes around it.

And why do we need yet another department store? Aren’t we close enough to every possible material need we could have? I’d much rather drive 20 miles to a store than live next to it. Convenience has a price, and I for one, am no longer willing to pay it.

I bring all this up to raise the questions:

Why must we fill every open space in the Conejo Valley?

Can anybody remember why the town was named Thousand Oaks? Oak trees used to be the most prominent and defining feature of the area. Now what would be an appropriate name?

When will we ever have enough tax revenues coming into city coffers from new developments?

Does everything we do have to be the most profitable or productive use of the property?

Can’t we be more creative in reusing old buildings?

Where does the development end? Can we leave anything as it is?

Please?

Glenn Bachman

Thousand Oaks