Frequently Asked Questions

General Plan and Update Process

What is the General Plan?

The General Plan is the planning and policy document that guides development, enhancement, and conservation in Thousand Oaks. Its purpose is to establish the community’s vision for how it will evolve in the years to come and to put tools in place to implement that vision. The General Plan lays out specific goals and policies that set the stage for future social, economic, and physical development of the City in support of the vision. As such, the General Plan is often referred to as the “blueprint” for the future of the community. California law requires every city and county to adopt a General Plan.

What’s in the General Plan?

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.

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.

Who is updating the General Plan?

The General Plan reflects the community’s vision for its future. As such, the General Plan Update is a public-driven process involving extensive public engagement. The City has hired a consultant to help gather input from the community and to draft a General Plan that is reflective of that input while satisfying the requirements of state law. Ultimately, the updated General Plan must be approved by the City Council. In addition, the housing element portion of the plan must be certified by the state Department of Housing and Community Development as meeting certain state housing requirements.

How long will it take to update the General Plan?

The most important aspect of the General Plan Update process is public input and participation. To ensure that there are ample opportunities for the public to be involved in the process, comprehensive General Plan updates typically take several years to complete. Please visit the project timeline page for more information.

How will the updated General Plan be used and implemented?

As the blueprint for the future of Thousand Oaks, the General Plan will be used to guide future City policies and programs and will serve as the basis for the physical development of the community. The primary tool for implementing the General Plan is the Zoning Code, which provides requirements for how every property in Thousand Oaks can be used and developed. Amendments to the Zoning Code will likely be needed following the General Plan update, since state law requires the Zoning Code to be consistent with the General Plan.

If we don’t update the General Plan, can we prevent Thousand Oaks from changing?

Cities are not static; they change over time. Cities must evolve to meet changing demographics and economics. By not updating the General Plan, we will not prevent change from happening; we will miss an opportunity to plan for and manage change.

Is Thousand Oaks being forced to do something other cities are not?

State law requires every city to have a General Plan and plan for their fair share of regional housing demand. While most cities update their plans every 10-15 years, Thousand Oaks has not comprehensively updated its General Plan in over 50 years, so it faces challenges not experienced by cities that have updated their plans more frequently. All cities in Southern California are in the process of updating their General Plan Housing Element as required by State law. The Housing Element is one of the General Plan chapters that must be updated and adopted by the City Council and submitted to the State Department of Housing and Community Development for review and certification every eight years.

If the General Plan is adopted, will Thousand Oaks be changed overnight by new development?

The General Plan represents the community’s vision for how it will grow and change over the next 25 years and beyond to meet projections for population and housing needs. The development anticipated in the land use alternatives will happen gradually over many years. The General Plan designates what uses may be built, but actual development occurs as property owners decide to develop their properties.

Land Use Alternatives

What is the land use map?

While only a small part of the overall General Plan, the land use map plays a critical role in shaping the future of Thousand Oaks by establishing how all the land in the city can be used and developed. The land use map assigns a color-coded land use designation to each property that specifies the type of development that is allowed on the property (e.g. residential or commercial) and the allowed density of that development. Density is measured in dwelling units per acre for residential uses and floor area ratio (FAR) for non-residential uses. Floor area ratio is explained in more detail in the Briefing Book.

Why do we have to update the land use map?

The land use map is used to demonstrate to the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) that Thousand Oaks is planning for its fair share of regional housing demand. Under State law, all cities are required to provide adequate housing capacity in their General Plan to accommodate the number of new housing units specified through the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process. While Thousand Oaks has adequate residential capacity citywide to provide for its share of regional housing demand, most of this capacity is allocated to established residential neighborhoods where additional housing units are not anticipated or desired. The proposed update to the land use map would reallocate this available capacity from residential neighborhoods to other areas of the city where development of additional residential units is desired and appropriate. These areas, referred to as “Areas of Change,” were identified based on input from the public and the General Plan Advisory Committee in late 2019 and early 2020.

What are land use alternatives?

The land use alternatives represent three different versions of the land use map with particular focus on the identified “Areas of Change.” The alternatives present three options for managing growth and development in Thousand Oaks over the next 25 years and beyond. The alternatives are similar to each other in that they all propose to reallocate unbuilt residential capacity from residential neighborhoods to the Areas of Change, where development of additional residential units is desired and appropriate. In addition, each of the alternatives would result in the same citywide residential unit capacity. The alternatives differ in the proposed locations and densities for residential and mixed-use development within the Areas of Change.

Why are you asking for public input only on the land use alternatives and not the whole General Plan?

The Housing Element, one of the chapters of the General Plan, is the only part of the General Plan that must be updated on a State-mandated schedule and must be reviewed and approved by the State Department of Housing and Community Development. Once endorsed by the City Council, the updated land use map will be used to prepare the Housing Element to demonstrate the City’s ability to plan for its share of regional housing demand. To meet the deadlines imposed under State law for the Housing Element, the City is seeking input from the public on the land use map separately from the rest of the General Plan. The Housing Element will be available for public review this summer. The complete draft General Plan and accompanying Environmental Impact Report will be released for public review later this year.

Will the City Council be asked to pick one of the three alternatives as the preferred alternative?

City staff and the consultant team are developing a preferred land use alternative based on the survey results and all other public input received. The preferred alternative will be a combination of the three proposed alternatives based on the public comments for specific areas. In May, the City Council will consider the preferred alternative along with the recommendations of the General Plan Advisory Committee and Planning Commission and the results of the next survey and any additional public comments received.

Do the land use alternatives propose changes throughout the City?

The land use alternatives are focused on Areas of Change that were identified through the public engagement process. The Areas of Change represent less than 8% of the City’s land area. This means that no changes are proposed for over 92% of the City, including open space and residential neighborhoods.

Do the land use alternatives propose buildings that are taller than anything currently allowed in Thousand Oaks?

While 35 feet or three stories are often mentioned as maximum building heights, taller buildings are already allowed, and have already been built, in certain areas of Thousand Oaks. There are buildings in Thousand Oaks up to 75 feet tall today. The land use alternatives do not propose buildings that are taller than buildings existing in Thousand Oaks.

Can mixed-use development be something other than apartments above retail stores?

Mixed-use can describe a variety of development types. The mixed-use areas on the land use alternatives are intended to accommodate a mix of buildings including residential and commercial, but not always in the same building, as described in the briefing book section on Mixed Use.

Housing and Residential Capacity

Does the General Plan update require a vote of the people under Measure E?

All of the proposed land use alternatives do not exceed the current residential capacity of the City as required by Measure E. The land use alternatives propose to reallocate existing capacity out of residential neighborhoods and into the Areas of Change identified through the public engagement process.

There are a lot of housing numbers being discussed. What do they represent?

81,000: Approximate number of housing units representing the overall capacity of the City, assuming that every property developed to its maximum allowed density. Measure E, approved by voters in 1996, prohibits an increase in the housing unit capacity of the City above this number without a vote of the people.
48,000: Approximate number of housing units existing today in Thousand Oaks.
33,000: Approximate number of housing units representing the remaining overall capacity of the City, assuming all properties redeveloped to their maximum allowed density. This number is derived from subtracting 48,000 existing units from 81,000 capacity units.
2,600: Approximate number of housing units assigned to Thousand Oaks through the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process. This number represents Thousand Oaks’ fair share of regional housing demand for the next eight years. Thousand Oaks must demonstrate through its General Plan that it is providing adequate capacity for this many additional units to be constructed over the next eight years. The City has to plan for these units but does not have to actually construct them or require that they be constructed.

Do the land use alternatives plan for 33,000 additional housing units in Thousand Oaks?

As regulated by Measure E, the total residential capacity of Thousand Oaks is about 81,000 units. There are about 48,000 units today in Thousand Oaks, leaving a remaining capacity of about 33,000 units. However, these capacity numbers assume that every property in the City would be developed at its maximum allowed density, which is unrealistic. Once a preferred land use alternative is selected, a forecast will be completed to estimate the actual amount of development expected to occur between now and 2045.

If the State is only requiring us to build 2,621 affordable units why are we planning for 33,000?

The remaining housing unit capacity of Thousand Oaks under the current General Plan is about 33,000 units. Due to the “no net loss” provisions of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, the City cannot reduce this citywide capacity. There is no expectation that 33,000 additional units will actually be built, because this number represents every property in the city developing to its maximum allowed density, which is unrealistic. The 2,621 units identified by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation represent only what the City must plan for the 2021-2029 Housing Element Cycle. This total number includes units distributed among four different affordability categories. These units must be planned for by identifying sites that will accommodate that number, but there is no requirement that they actually be built.

If the City fails to adopt an updated General Plan Housing Element by February 12, 2022 that demonstrates the City’s ability to provide for its share of regional housing demand, there are serious consequences including fines, loss of grant funds, potential lawsuits, and State intervention to mandate approval of housing projects that may be inconsistent with the City’s character.

Is the City building affordable housing units?

The City is planning to provide for its share of regional housing demand at all levels of affordability as required by State law. Through the land use map, the General Plan will determine where additional housing units can be constructed, should private property owners and developers choose to do so. The City does not build housing or solicit developers to build housing. The amount of housing built is determined by private property owners and market conditions. The City reviews and manages development proposals that are submitted to the City for approvals. Each proposal must conform to the City’s General Plan and Municipal Code Zoning requirements.

How will infrastructure, water, and utilities be affected?

As required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the City will prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to accompany the General Plan. The EIR will analyze the potential environmental impacts that would result if Thousand Oaks were developed in the manner anticipated by the plan, including but not limited to impacts related to air quality, traffic, water, utilities, and other infrastructure. Following the City Council’s selection of a preferred land use alternative, the City will begin the process of preparing the EIR based on that alternative. Due to the cost and time required to perform these analyses, it would not have been practical to do so for each of the three land use alternatives.

Why isn’t the City focusing on filling vacant commercial spaces instead of focusing on housing?

The City devotes a great deal of time and effort to business attraction and retention through its economic development office. However, the City has no ability to require that certain businesses come into the community or to force property owners to lease their buildings to certain tenants. Businesses will choose to open or not open in any location based on their analysis of demand, economic conditions, and demographics, and their ability to negotiate a favorable lease agreement with a property owner. Demand for retail space has generally declined nationwide over the past few years as consumers embraced shopping in big box stores and then online. Numerous national chains and locally owned stores have closed in response to changes in consumer behavior and demand. This has accelerated over the past year because of the pandemic and resulting economic conditions. The proposed land use alternatives seek to provide property owners with a potential alternative use of their properties by allowing residential development on properties currently designated only for commercial use. Over time, this will in turn decrease the amount of commercial tenant space citywide to better reflect the demand. In addition, new residents will increase demand for retail services.

Can the City rehabilitate empty buildings in the area to provide housing?

Adapting older commercial buildings for reuse as residential units is a decision left to private property owners and developers. The City does not build housing or direct property owners to do so. Adaptive reuse is popular in urban areas where the size and design of the buildings facilitate the conversion to residential units. Most commercial buildings in Thousand Oaks are of a size and/or design that does not lend itself to a residential conversion. In some cases, the buildings are too small and could not fit enough units to make a residential conversion economically viable. In other cases, the design of the buildings is such that converting to a residential use would be too complicated or costly. If a commercial property owner is interested in developing residential units on their property, they are more likely to build a new building for the residential units.

For Property Owners and Developers

When will the new land use map be effective?

While the City Council endorsed a preferred land use alternative in May 2021, the land use map will be subject to further public review as part of the full draft General Plan in late 2023. The land use map will be adopted as part of the final updated General Plan in 2023 and will become effective at that time. The updated General Plan and land use map will be implemented through the adoption of updates to the zoning map and zoning code, which will establish new use and development standards consistent with the vision, goals, and policies of the updated General Plan.

Can I submit my project application before the new General Plan is adopted?

While the City Council endorsed a preferred land use alternative in May 2021, the land use map will be subject to further public review as part of the full draft General Plan in late 2023. The land use map will be adopted as part of the final updated General Plan in 2023 and will become effective at that time. Applications for projects that are consistent with the proposed land use map cannot be approved unless and until that land use map is actually adopted as part of the General Plan update.

Will I be forced to make any changes to my property as a result of the General Plan?

The General Plan does not force any property owner to make any changes to their properties including but not limited to closing businesses, modifying or demolishing existing buildings, or constructing new buildings. The General Plan provides the framework by which property owners may use and develop their properties, should they wish to redevelop or make other changes to their properties.