Council Now the Last Word on Preservation

Designation and preservation of historically and culturally significant landmarks in Thousand Oaks is now officially in the hands of the City Council.

The council, led by a pro-business majority, voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to adopt a historical preservation ordinance requiring a 180-day wait before a historic building, monument or land formation can be demolished, modified, relocated or removed.

The decision also formalizes the council’s de facto role as the city’s Cultural Heritage Board, which it assumed last May.

Before that, the task of naming and protecting sites of historical and cultural importance to city residents had been carried out by the Thousand Oaks Arts Commission, which handed the job over to the City Council after what some members have characterized as constant meddling by the city manager’s office.

Although expected, the decision upset slow-growth advocates and preservationists.

“I’m really saddened,” said William Maple, who has worked to save local landmarks--such as the old barns at Dos Vientos Ranch--from the wrecking ball. “The City Council will now be the judge and the jury.”

Some residents feel that naming the council as the Cultural Heritage Board does not bode well for the designation of future historical landmarks.

“Nothing in Thousand Oaks has been declared a historic landmark in years,” said Bonnie Roth, a member and former head of the city’s Arts Commission. “If we don’t know where and what we came from, how can we know where we are going as a community?”

The new ordinance requires landowners planning to alter or remove a designated historical landmark on their property to file for a “certificate of appropriateness” with the City Council.

The council must hold a public hearing regarding the site after 90 days from the filing date.

If the council approves the request, demolition or alteration of the designated historical site may begin immediately.

Denial of the certificate means the property owner will have to wait 180 days before demolishing or altering the structure while the council takes steps to acquire or move it.