Park district has distinct choices on Rancho Potrero

Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) has done a good job of providing Thousand Oaks residents with some of the best urban and rural parks of any community.

However, with the Rancho Potrero project, CRPD is proposing to combine both urban and rural activities right next to each other in the same park.

Why?

These rural undeveloped 326 acres are the home of an equestrian center, formerly Two Winds Ranch, and many trails for horse riding, hiking and biking. But CRPD's plan includes a road where cars and buses will regularly pass right next to trail users, a noisy 200-person party pavilion--disc jockeys, alcohol, barbecues--and an unsightly parking lot, all in the middle of peaceful trails and not far from the equestrian center.

What kind of plan is that?

The public has provided lots of feedback regarding this plan and they overwhelmingly have said to leave it a rural park and not add high-intensity activities that belong in urban settings.

The Conejo Valley Days carnival doesn't belong in Wildwood and nobody would go on a peaceful horse trail ride through the Oktoberfest party. Do you agree some things just don't make sense together?

So where are we now? It seems we're at a fork in the road, and CRPD needs to decide which path we'll all be going on.

One path is to keep this area a rural park and enhance it with some additional trails, a few picnic tables, etc. Everyone in the community would be happy, including the horses.

The other path is to ignore the community feedback and force this unwanted, mismatched urban 200-person party pavilion onto this rural land.

Hundreds of hikers, trail riders and equestrians would be very upset and angry.

Which path will CRPD take us on?
Dave Hettwer
Newbury Park