Council to Consider Plan to Create Parks

More than 300 acres of unused public land would be turned into community parks under a plan that will be considered by the City Council on Tuesday.

If approved, Councilman Dennis Gillette’s proposal would more than double the amount of developed parkland in the city. Gillette formerly served on the board of the Conejo Valley Parks and Recreation District for 11 years before he was elected to the council Nov. 3.

His plan would create a new open-space endowment fund to build and maintain the parks. He said money for the endowment could come from a combination of city funds, future developer donations and a potential temporary sales tax increase.

The cooperative effort between the council and the parks district would be the latest in a long string of joint ventures between the two panels. Other mutual projects have met with great success, such as the Goebel Senior Adult Center, the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, and the Thousand Oaks Library, said parks district General Manager Tex Ward.

The new parkland would include acreage that has gone undeveloped since 1964 and which encompasses almost every neighborhood of the city.

The sites range in size from 0.2 acre at Erbes Road and Hillcrest Avenue to 140 acres at the Lang Ranch site on Westlake Boulevard.

The parks district currently includes about 331 acres of developed parks spread across 33 sites.