City to Begin Annexation Process for Broome Ranch : Thousand Oaks: Council decides to keep options for the site open as the city examines possible uses, including a golf course.

Displaying unexpected harmony, the Thousand Oaks City Council agreed unanimously Tuesday night to begin the process of annexing Broome Ranch while remaining flexible about future uses for the property.

Council members agreed to study the environmental impacts of several uses, including a golf course, an equestrian center and soccer and baseball fields. They also want planners to consider doing nothing at all with the 326-acre parcel.

But members agreed that they are still a long way from actually deciding what happens with the land.

“We are going to initiate a process,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “It is the very first baby step we are going to take, and there is nothing that guarantees we will ever build a golf course at Broome Ranch.”

Since both Mayor Jaime Zukowski and Councilwoman Elois Zeanah are strongly opposed to putting a golf course on the property, which was purchased jointly in 1993 by the city and the Conejo Recreation and Park District, Tuesday’s vote was expected to be divisive.

In March, the four-member council deadlocked on the issue, agreeing to delay a vote until after the June 6 special election when a full council would be seated. Councilman Mike Markey took office last Tuesday.

By deciding to keep their options open, council members found themselves in a 5-0 vote, causing Councilman Andy Fox to break into a cheerful grin.

“The mayor pro tem [Fox] is very pleased that we got through a land-use issue without injury,” Zukowski joked.

Making a decision about future uses for Broome Ranch has been a convoluted and complicated saga, complete with multiple owners, conflicting opinions and several potential tenants.

There is a pile of paperwork involved in changing Broome Ranch from deserted fields and quiet hiking trails to any other use, even something as simple as a home for horses.

There are zoning restrictions, annexation applications and environmental reviews to wade through.

Because it is just outside the city limits in Newbury Park, Broome Ranch must be annexed for the city and park district to officially assume ownership--and control--of the land.

Since the two entities paid $3.1 million for the land, the Mountains Conservation and Recreation Authority has held the deed, a favor intended to save both the city and the park district from paying property tax.

But officials at the city and park district agree that the time has come for something to be done with Broome Ranch. The first use of the former farmland is an interim one: allowing the Two Winds Riding Stables, which were displaced by the Dos Vientos development across Potrero Road, to move onto the land.

The larger picture is more complicated. Equestrian centers do not make money as a rule, and both the park district and the city are looking for new revenue.

Most city officials consider a golf course a fine source of revenue--Los Robles, the one publicly owned course in Thousand Oaks, nets $200,000 a year--and the council has agreed to build a second course somewhere in the city.

Zeanah and Zukowski say it should be built at Hill Canyon, while the other three council members have said they would like to at least study the Broome Ranch option.

“This parcel is being treated like it is any piece of land and it isn’t,” Zeanah said. “It’s located within a very environmentally sensitive zone, the Santa Monica Mountains.”