Phone Voting Gives City a Line on Lot’s Future

THOUSAND OAKS —  The results are in. But the winner is less than clear.

The inaugural test of the city’s experiment with direct-dial democracy shows that residents are of two minds about how to develop the 11-acre vacant lot next to Civic Arts Plaza. City officials also say the results show the method works--to a point.

To gauge public opinion on the vacant land, the city asked voters to call an automated system to register their views on several proposed alternatives.

Two preferred options emerged--depending on how the votes are counted.

Counting only the raw number of votes cast electronically, the top choice was the smallest of the options: a 76,400-square-foot complex that would include only the museum, park, police center and a restaurant or club.

Using an adjusted number that limits each household to four calls, the favorite was a 112,400-square-foot project that would be anchored by a children’s science museum, a police center, a park, a few restaurants and cafes, an Imax theater and a specialty shop.

Only about 20% of the votes were cast for the most developed alternative, which would have included a conference and catering center.

In all, 770 phone votes were cast. And 53 recorded messages were left.

The first use of the Community Action Partnership System--as the call-in system is known--was a success, city officials say. It is also a learning experience.

“Obviously, this was our first time out--it was an experiment,” said Housing Services Manager Olav E. Hassel, project manager for the eastside parcel. “In view of the fact that you always have some teething problems, we did pretty well.”

Hassel and other city staffers interpret the close results--all four proposals received between 31% and 19% approval--as an indication that residents are relatively comfortable with all the options and are willing to let the City Council proceed.

With the results in hand, City Council members will be asked Tuesday to pick one of the formulas and then authorize the solicitation of specific bids for the long-awaited project.

While the number of calls received was substantial for a debut, Councilwomen Linda Parks and Judy Lazar said they would like to see more responses in future uses of the system, set up at a discount by GTE, which hopes to sell other cities on the concept.

“It does work,” Parks said. “We just need to make more people aware of it so we have a better response . . . and maybe we should give people a longer time [than the two-week call-in period] to respond. I think we could get a higher number than 600. I’d like to get at least 10,000.”

A truer representation of what the community wants could be obtained by putting the concepts on the ballot, Parks added.

Another difficulty, Lazar believes, was that the lack of visuals made it hard for residents to decide which of the four options they favored.

“I do think there was a lack of definition, in people’s minds, to the proposals,” she said. “They had just a concept without a drawing or any plans. I think it’s difficult for the public to respond to these things until you can see how it actually works, physically and functionally.”

Some community members chose to give the City Council more direction than a simple yea vote. They left comments on a line reserved for voice messages to give leaders a glimpse of what they really want next door to the City Hall-performing arts center complex.

Nine callers left voice messages asking for nothing, or close to it, on the site. Level the Civic Arts Plaza and replace it with a more mundane building, one caller implored. Reserve the area as open space or plant a botanical garden, others urged.

Two callers objected to the possibility of a comedy club on the lot because it might attract “the wrong element.”

Another railed against western design motifs. Someone else craved a pedestrian-friendly design with pizazz.

A petting zoo, art museum and a Baja Fresh restaurant all received votes.

One member of the public phoned in the opinion that the City Council should make its own decision rather than rely on the public.

Four of the responses were obscene phone calls.

The phone system, suggested by City Councilman Andy Fox, is also being used to decide which sculpture of oak branches will best prettify the copper curtain adorning the Civic Arts Plaza.