City Considers Site for Youth Museum

The Ventura County Discovery Center, a children’s science museum that has long been proposed for Thousand Oaks, may be moving closer to reality as city officials consider the land beside the Civic Arts Plaza as its site.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to further consider a plan to lease the city-owned land just east of the Civic Arts Plaza to the nonprofit group pushing the museum for $1 a year for the next 60 years.

City leaders have already met with Discovery Center representatives about building the museum between the performing arts center and the planned Thousand Oaks Town Center, a multiplex movie theater and restaurant complex. Both sides said they are optimistic the proposal could work.

“I’m extremely excited about the possibility,� City Manager Grant Brimhall said.

Discovery Center backers had initially wanted the museum to be a part of the Civic Arts Plaza, but city officials said space was limited. They also lobbied to obtain the former Thousand Oaks City Hall on Hillcrest Drive as the museum site, but city officials want to sell that complex to help pay for the $64-million Civic Arts Plaza, which also doubles as the new City Hall.

Even with what would amount to zero land costs, Discovery Center supporters still need to raise more than $6 million to build the museum, put together its exhibits and start an endowment fund. They have hired a professional fund-raiser to help coordinate the effort.