Thousand Oaks General Plan | Reviewing, revising & updating for the first time since 1970
Project Timeline: 2019-2022
Banner image and timeline source: Thousand Oaks General Plan 2045
New blueprints are in the works for Thousand Oaks…
The city is in the midst of a complete overhaul of its General Plan. And it’s the first comprehensive review & rework in 50 years.
Overall, the project seems to be stirring up excitement amongst the locals. But that doesn’t leave out room for concern. Naturally, it raises a lot of questions within the community:
- Population growth
- Traffic
- Housing market & home value
- Property tax
- Industry
- etc.
We don’t have all the answers yet. But in the coming weeks-months I’ll be following along with the project and sharing any insight.
One thing’s for sure, the city is encouraging community involvement. Through surveys and public meetings, the advisory board has opened forums allowing people to share opinions. And from what we can tell so far, the city is taking any community concern into consideration (something we find refreshing to hear).
TOaks2045.org | Thousand Oaks 2045 General Plan: Rooted in Community
“Welcome to the Thousand Oaks 2045 General Plan Update! We hope it serves as a useful tool for you to become familiar with and get involved in the Citywide effort to update the General Plan.” (toaks2045.org, official project website.)
Thousand Oaks Department of Development, General Plan Advisory Committee, Planning Commission, City Council, and members of the public will play a roll in making decisions over the coming months. TOaks2045.org, the project’s official website, lets the city to keep in touch with the community and share new information.
The website comes with a ton of resources. Including details on the general plan advisory committee, land use alternatives, a library of existing condition reports & survey results, FAQs, and a calendar of upcoming or changing events.
General Plan Advisory Committee: A diverse twenty-four-member committee has been formed composed of residents, business owners, educators, students, and other members of the Thousand Oaks community who will meet and collaborate to provide insight throughout the City’s General Plan Update process. These meetings are open to the public to observe, comment, and participate in activities. (toaks2045, learn more.)
toaks2045.org | General Plans 101
General Plan 101
Among the offered resources is General Plan 101 – a document covering project basics. As we start to follow along with the project, there are two questions we had ourselves:
Why update the general plan now?
“It is important to periodically update the General Plan to ensure that it accurately reflects Thousand Oaks’ vision of its future. As the community’s needs, challenges, and opportunities evolve over time, the General Plan must also evolve. While some sections of the General Plan have been updated over the years and have served the community well, the last comprehensive General Plan update was completed in 1970. To ensure that all sections of the General Plan remain consistent with one another and form a cohesive vision for Thousand Oaks, now is the time to revisit all sections of the General Plan through a single public process. Further, recent state legislation and revisions to the state’s General Plan guidelines are requiring all cities amend their General Plans across a variety of topics.” – toaks2045.org | General Plan 101
What’s in the General Plans?
“California law requires all General Plans to address a minimum of eight subject areas, referred to as elements. These elements are land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, safety, and environmental justice. Cities have the option of addressing additional topics of local importance. Thousand Oaks’ General Plan will include additional topics such as public health, public services, economic development, and arts and culture” – toaks2045.org | General Plan 101
It’s not everything we want to know just yet, I know. But it gives an idea of where to start looking. The list of questions and growing intrigue I have for this project continues as I get further into the learning process. I’ll be attending meetings and catching up on all the current information out there to see if/how any changing elements might affect home value & the housing market.
Following along with the project…
This post is the first in a series of blogs covering TO’s General Plan and its potential impact.
