Thousand Oaks council approves land-use plan despite Borchard parcel concerns

The Thousand Oaks City Council adopted the city’s first general land-use plan since 1970 on Tuesday night despite some residents’ concerns over a controversial parcel in the Newbury Park neighborhood.

The council voted 4-1 in favor of the 2045 General Plan, which guides the city's growth for the next two decades.

The most debated part of the plan affects the 37-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Borchard Road and Highway 101. The undeveloped site was purchased more than 40 years ago by real estate developer Nasser Moradian and is currently overseen by son Shawn Moradian.

Some Newbury Park residents object to the General Plan's changing the site's zoning from low-residential density, which allows 4.5 single-family homes per acre, to mixed-use low, which allows 20 dwelling units per acre and commercial use.

Council member David Newman cited the concerns over the parcel as one of the reasons he cast the sole vote against the plan.

“I completely agree about the need for more housing,” Newman said, but noted the Borchard property has a flood easement.

“It can be mitigated with the appropriate number of engineers and dollars, but I think there are real questions about whose dollars it is and whose liability it is,” Newman said.

The easement, which Ventura County established in 1978 to handle stormwater runoff, is the subject of a lawsuit filed Wednesday by Mason Partners LLC. The Moradian family owns the LLC.

The Borchard parcel owners are suing the county and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District to "quiet title an easement," which would end the county's flood easement. The suit alleges there is no evidence of the county's utilization of the easement for flood control and that the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife this year determined there have never been wetlands on the property.

The suit also claims Ventura County and city of Thousand Oaks were notified this year that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found no deficiency requiring the use of the easement.

The suit came a day after the Thousand Oaks City Council listened to opponents of the zoning change.

Among them was Karen Wilburn, who co-founded Conejo Valley Advocates for Sensible Planning. Her organization led a petition drive this year against the council changing the parcel’s land-use designation to mixed use, which would allow a major housing development at the property.

Wilburn was among the four-hour hearing's nearly 60 speakers, who included both supporters of the unamended general plan and longtime Newbury Park residents insisting on removing the mixed-use zoning designation.

Newbury Park resident Steve McCollum told the council the current low residential density zoning would equal about 165 homes for the Borchard parcel and that the city should allow no more than that. "Not 400 or 200."

John Sheridan was among the Newbury Park residents speaking against the Borchard parcel change.

“We knew going in that the cards were stacked against us. We made our voices heard," Sheridan said in an interview Wednesday about the council’s passage of the plan.

"We are disappointed because the city writes their own narrative, saying that there's wide support for the (Borchard parcel) project when they have in their possession signatures and addresses of over 2,200 Newbury Park residents who have told them they don't want mixed use on that property," Sheridan said.

Sheridan told the council that he was among the 92% of Newbury Park residents who signed the petition.

“Please honor the people who elected you and require the owner to bring a site-specific plan, just like every other property designation change in the history of this city,” Sheridan said. “Why would you even consider such special treatment for this property owner? The citizens of Thousand Oaks deserve an explanation.”

City council members stressed the need for housing.

Supporters of the land-use plan at Tuesday's meeting included representatives of the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce and Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

“If the general plan is not approved tonight, the city opens itself to developers to come in and develop what they wish such as high-rise buildings with the blessing of the state,” said Halla Maher, a member of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association board.

Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks land-use plan approved despite Borchard parcel concerns