The Thousand Oaks General Plan has not been updated since the 1970s, but the 2020 plan is now underway, according to Deputy Director for the City of Thousand Oaks Michael Forbes.

“The bulk of the plan really is a bunch of goals and policies of what the city wants to be over the next 25 years,” Forbes said. 

The fifth General Plan Advisory Committee meeting was held Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Thousand Oaks City Hall, to help develop a plan that will describe the planned development of the city.

California Lutheran University President Chris Kimball is part of the General Plan Committee, and said Thousand Oaks does not have enough housing for young people starting their career in the area. 

“Having enough affordable housing for people is probably what the city would say is their top challenge they want to meet,” Kimball said. 

Forbes said the general plan is among other focus areas concerned with housing and roads, as well as a plan for natural resources, which people tend to be concerned about.

“The big part of the General Plan is getting the public’s input because it’s their community,” Forbes said.

Forbes said most of the committee’s community outreach is pop-up workshops and community events, one of them being the farmers market.

Forbes said the fifth meeting was focused on economic growth and how to increase sales in the Thousand Oaks area.

Housing is a big issue and there is not much open space available to build on, so this is where they want input from the community, in terms of what types of housing they want Forbes said.

During the comment section of the meeting, some community members at the meeting said they would like to see more oak trees planted in the city.

Janet Wall, Thousand Oaks resident, said the top priorities for them is having more open space, planting oak trees and having more renovations in Thousand Oaks.

Matt Raimi of Raimi + Associates, an urban design and research firm, and a stakeholder in the General Plan, said they are looking at taking in more input on what the community wants and needs.

“Making sure that the businesses that are located here, stay located [here],” Raimi said about the plans for the development of Thousand Oaks.

Raimi said hotels bring revenue in the city, and bringing more places to ‘hang out’ is important to make sure tax revenue stays in Thousand Oaks. 

The next General Plan Committee meeting is going to be some time in March, where they will be discussing more plans and the listening to opinions voiced by the community.