For the second year in a row, I have asked the city council to spare Mount Clef Ridge the same fate that so many other places in America have succumbed to.

The (latest) project is a step backward. It calls for us to sacrifice our historic and natural heritage. You might ask why such a thing can happen. How can the city of Thousand Oaks possibly allow a wildlife corridor to be severed?

The answer is that our current ridgeline overlay, not incorporated into city law until 1988, did not include several parcels, among them Mount Clef Ridge.

Development on the ridge began in 1983 with the extension of Wildwood Avenue. Fifteen years later two homes placed behind a gate were constructed because they lay in what the city calls a “saddle,” a dip in the ridgeline’s topography, therefore disqualifying it from protection under current laws.

We have done a fine job in the past with our open space, and as a young man who has spent his whole life here, I am very grateful.

However, much more needs to be done.

I challenge the city to reform the current ridgeline overlay so that the community, future generations yet to be born, and the wildlife never have to go through something like this again.

(Mount Clef Ridge is) a beautiful legacy that should be protected for all time. Clint Robert Matkovich Thousand Oaks