Pinecrest plans now public

Proposal includes senior apartments



HOUSING—A proposal to build townhomes and apartments at the former Pinecrest School site is expected to be brought before the City Council Tues., Sept. 25. Courtesy of City of Thousand Oaks

HOUSING—A proposal to build townhomes and apartments at the former Pinecrest School site is expected to be brought before the City Council Tues., Sept. 25. Courtesy of City of Thousand Oaks

A site which for over 40 years was dedicated to serving children is now proposed for the city’s most significant senior housing project in over a decade.

Developer City Ventures is expected to come before the Thousand Oaks City Council on Sept. 25 with a two-part plan to put 130 market-rate townhomes and 80 affordable senior apartments on the 11-acre former Pinecrest Schools property at Wilbur and Hodencamp roads. The campus closed in 2016 and has been vacant ever since.

If approved, the affordable senior apartment complex would be the second of its kind in the city.

The proposal calls for a partnership between the Irvine-based new-home builder and T.O.-based low-income housing provider Many Mansions, which, with the Area Housing Authority of Ventura County, would build and manage the apartments on one side of the property while City Ventures constructed townhomes for sale on the other.

“We’re very excited about the project,” said Rick Schroeder, president of Many Mansions. “My sense is the community recognizes senior housing is really needed.”

Because the parcel is zoned for institutional use, any type of housing development built there will require a general plan amendment. Before diving into that costly review process, City Ventures will come before the council Sept. 25 for a prescreening meant to determine whether city leaders think the project should proceed.

The City Council last considered the property just over two years ago when developer KB Homes proposed building 114 townhomes there. While the council voted to allow KB to proceed, it also said the final proposal had to include some element of affordable housing, especially for seniors.

“I would strongly recommend you don’t come back with a project that doesn’t have some public value,” Councilmember Andy Fox said at the Aug. 30, 2016, meeting. KB never came back with a project.

At the time, city staff said the 144 units requested would be a major drain on the Measure E bank, which then was calculated to be around 500 units. The bank represents how many available units the council has left to assign to the general plan before a vote of the people is required under Measure E, the voter-instituted citywide residential and commercial cap.

Since then, a controversial vote of the council to transfer density from existing parcels increased the bank by 1,000 units, more than enough to fulfill City Ventures’ request for 210 if council members support it.

“The preapproval is just the beginning of the process,” Schroeder said. “What that allows us to do is do the environmental studies and further planning.”

Plans submitted to the city two weeks ago could change before they reach the prescreening, said Stephen Kearns, the city planner working with the developer, but as of now, they call for some three-story buildings.

The apartments would go on 2 acres along Wilbur Road, about where the now-closed school’s parking lot still stands. Eventually, the developers will request a formal lot split so the apartments and townhomes will be on two separate parcels, Schroeder said.

While some of the infrastructure, like roads and sewage, may be put in for the entire area at the same time, actual building construction will be done separately, the Many Mansions president said.

The nonprofit last attempted to build housing dedicated to seniors in Thousand Oaks in 2013. But the organization’s board of directors suspended plans after facing intense opposition from neighbors of the Hillcrest Drive site.

The housing provider manages 11 sites in Thousand Oaks, including the 57-unit Oak Creek Senior Villas complex on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, which was built in 2004.

The council meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Scherr Forum/council chambers at City Hall on Tues., Sept. 25. Meetings are open to the public and a time for public comment is provided.