City of Thousand Oaks works with Many Mansions on affordable housing

To allow for the construction of a 60unit multifamily affordable housing project, the City Council voted 4-0 in favor of a change in the city's General Plan from low-density residential to medium-density residential. Councilmember Dennis Gillette was absent from the recent City Council/redevelopment agency public hearing on land use.

Now five family home sites have been combined to create one parcel where affordable housing will be constructed.

The land that was rezoned and merged into one parcel is at 2672, 2676, 2686 and 2736 Hillcrest Drive and 2645 Los Feliz Drive. Those parcels were originally zoned rural exclusive and residential planned development that allowed seven units per acre.

The new zoning allows 15 units per acre.

Two of those units will have four bedrooms and 1,472 square feet to house six to nine people, said Many Mansions executive director Rick Schroeder.

Neighbors near the site expressed concerns about utility poles not being put underground, along with worries that their property values would go down.

A waiver was granted so it's no longer required to place existing overhead utility poles and lines underground.

An estimate said it would cost about $50,000 to underground the utilities, according to Schroeder.

The city has already put more than $5 million into the project, so the cost of $50,000 to make the neighbors happier was reasonable, said Councilmember Claudia Bill-de la Peña.

Councilmember Andrew Fox said he wasn't prepared to vote to spend that money without further research.

City Manager Scott Mitnick cautioned the council to spend redevelopment money wisely since the state requires the city to provide zoning for more than 1,600 additional affordable housing units and this was only 60 units. He said the cost of undergrounding could exceed $50,000. He also said other areas in the city are waiting for funding to put utilities underground.

The City Council voted 4-0 on the undergrounding issue, asking city staff to return within three months with a report detailing what it would cost to bury the utilities. They're also to provide a diagram and comparisons from other utility undergrounding in that neighborhood.

An oak tree permit was issued allowing encroachment on an offsite oak tree.

The applicant, Many Mansions, a low-income housing provider, agreed to implement affordability restrictions on the proposed housing so it would be available for low-income families.

"These are very, very difficult issues," Fox said.

He said Many Mansions had listened to and addressed the vast majority of issues from the project's neighborhood, but what it "boils down to is balanced housing."

Fox explained that Thousand Oaks needs to make quality housing available for those workers who provide services to the city's residents.

"That adds value to our community," he said.

The redevelopment agency will spend up to $220,000 for design and installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Hillcrest and Skyline drives, which is near the project.