Condo Substation May Be Turned Over to Homeowners

THOUSAND OAKS —  A month after a resident was killed in a drive-by shooting at the Conejo Creek condominium complex, the City Council will consider turning over the complex’s substation and resource center to the homeowners’ association.

Last month the council voted to remove the full-time deputy who had patrolled the 540-unit complex for the past six months.

City officials say it’s time for residents of the Newbury Park complex to take over the neighborhood center. The council will vote Tuesday on transferring ownership of the two-bedroom condo unit that has served as a substation and resource center since June 1999 to the Conejo Creek Homeowners Assn.

“There’s the pride of ownership,” Deputy City Manager Scott Mitnick said. “Like any other neighborhood, the more ownership you have, the more pride and the more involved people become with their community.”

No one from the homeowners association was available for comment Friday.

The city has spent nearly $400,000 in the past 10 years on improvements to the complex. It spent $70,000 to buy the condo for the resource center, $90,000 to resurface the alleys and add street lighting and $95,000 to construct a median on Avenida de la Plata.

Despite the April 28 drive-by attack in which complex resident Edgar Cruz, 19, was fatally shot, calls to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department for service have declined in recent years, authorities say.

Last year, calls dealing with aggravated assaults dropped to two, contrasted with 11 in 1998, according to a report to the City Council.

“We have the seed planted now,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Keith Parks, police chief for Thousand Oaks. “The community has the power to make a difference. If they have just a little bit of foresight to take action to notify us if there’s a problem, they are going to have a real chance of changing the community.”

City officials don’t plan to stop their involvement with the project right away. City staff members are recommending the City Council approve looking into a new code enforcement program.

The inspection program would not go into effect until after July 2001, Mitnick said. Up to three inspectors would make regular visits to check for health and safety violations. They might also check for overcrowding, which has been a problem for the complex.

The number of complaints on overcrowding has dropped, Mitnick said. In 1992, the city received 65 formal complaints about too many residents living in condos. That number has dropped to six last year and three through April of this year.

But code enforcement is not enough, Councilman Dan Del Campo said.

On May 16, the council voted 3 to 2 against stationing a sheriff’s deputy at the complex. Del Campo and Councilwoman Linda Parks voted in favor of bringing back an officer. A full-time officer had been stationed at the substation for the first six months.

“The code enforcement is good, but I don’t think it’s as effective as having the officer there,” Del Campo said. An officer “gives a better message to the community as a whole and to the undesirable elements, that we’re making every effort to establish ourselves and keep Thousand Oaks in the top one, two or three safest city rankings in the nation.”