Housing control measure may bite the dust
By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

The restriction on how quickly developers can build housing in Thousand Oaks may disappear during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The council is scheduled to decide whether they should extend Measure A, the city's residential development control system that is set to end on Dec. 31.

The measure was adopted by voters in 1980. It limits to 500 dwellings per year the amount of new residential housing that can be approved for construction. Subsidized affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families is exempt.

Last year less than 500 new dwellings were developed. There is no proposal by city staff to extend Measure A, Community Development Director John Prescott said.

Statistical analysis of future residential growth in Thousand Oaks according to the city's General Plan has been considered, he said.

But mixed-use development, such as what's been discussed for Thousand Oaks Boulevard, and other growth that could occur in the future but isn't currently before the city hasn't been considered, Prescott said.

"The Thousand Oaks Boulevard plans are not a part of the city's plan right now--it's speculative," he said.

The Thousand Oaks Business Improvement District for the boulevard has presented a draft of its plans to the public and given that draft to city officials. The plans include buildings of various sizes. Some are high-rise buildings equipped with elevators, with four or more floors that would be mixed use. On the first floor there would be businesses and upper floors would be residential.

Though the city's General Plan appears to limit this type of future residential growth, the state's Density Bonus Program could change that. That program would grant a developer a density at least 25 percent higher than permitted under the existing General Plan if the developer builds and maintains a specified portion of a property for low or very-low-income housing units.