Thousand Oaks planning commission receives 2024 general plan and housing element annual progress report

The Thousand Oaks Planning Commission on May 8 received and filed the city’s 2024 general plan and housing element annual progress report, voting 5-0 to find the action is not a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act and to place the report on file.

Senior Planner Ken Holt told commissioners the report — submitted to the state Department of Housing and Community Development and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation on March 31, 2025 — documents the city’s 2024 implementation actions for the general plan and housing element and is required to maintain housing-element certification and eligibility for certain state grants. “The report before you tonight has been submitted to HCD and LCI on 03/31/2025,” Holt said during the presentation.

The report and staff presentation summarized several implementation highlights from 2024, including: the rezoning required to activate the housing sites inventory (described in the presentation as creation of the VUA-2 mixed-use zoning district), continued work on a comprehensive zoning code update with Lisa Weiss Consulting (planned through mid-2026), revisions to the city’s inclusionary housing program, adoption of the Climate and Environmental Action Plan on May 7, 2024, a redesigned ADA-compliant city website launched in September 2024, and initiation of a downtown campus master-plan process with a workshop already held.

On housing production and entitlements, Holt reported that 2024 saw 108 residential applications totaling 109 units submitted that year (107 approved, 2 denied). For entitlements approved in 2024, staff reported a total of 520 units, led by a city project at Hillcrest of 78 townhomes with 59 low-income and 19 moderate-income units, and a 328-unit project at a site referred to during the meeting as Oaks Boulevard with 44 low-income and 284 above-moderate units. Holt also said accessory dwelling units made up a large share of building permits issued in 2024, with 104 ADUs receiving permits.

Holt and commissioners discussed the gap between units that have received entitlements and those that have pulled building permits. Commissioner Lanson asked about the timeline for entitlements to convert to building permits and whether developers must return to the commission for extensions. Holt explained that a typical entitlement is effective for three years and applicants may request up to two time extensions totaling 48 additional months, meaning approvals can effectively last up to seven years if extensions are granted. “The typical time frame for your entitlements is 7 years total, given the time extensions,” Holt said.

A staff speaker (unnamed in the transcript) expanded on that explanation and said many large projects hold development agreements with their own time frames, that the city has been working with developers on minor and major amendments, and that economic conditions and state law changes have affected developers’ timing. That staff speaker said one major site referenced in the report — the Oaks Boulevard project previously associated with a different developer — recently was purchased by a subsidiary of Trammell Crow, and the new owner is continuing to advance the project but has not broken ground.

The presentation also reviewed code amendments adopted or initiated in 2024 to implement housing programs cited in the housing element, including state-law updates to accessory dwelling unit regulations, ministerial approvals for qualifying affordable projects (SB 35 and staff-cited ministerial processes), a ministerial lot consolidation process with incentives for projects that provide affordable housing, objective standards for low-barrier navigation centers, clarification of supportive housing and transitional housing definitions, and allowances for farmworker/employee housing where residential uses are permitted. Holt noted the city has continued partnerships with affordable-housing providers including People Self Help for a 78-unit Hillcrest townhome project and reported use of Community Development Block Grant funds for rehabilitation projects including 28 mobile-home units occupied by low-income seniors and 72 rental units at Bella Vista Apartments.

Vice Chair Tyler Kettlehat moved the commission’s action to receive and file the report and to find the item is not a CEQA project. “I move that we find that this action is not a project as defined under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to section 15378(b) and receive and file the 2024 general plan and housing element annual progress report,” Kettlehat said. The motion passed on a 5-0 roll-call vote.

The commission’s formal action was limited to receiving and filing the report and the CEQA finding; staff described ongoing, nonbinding work with developers to pursue plan submittals, amendments and building permits. The commission adjourned and was scheduled to reconvene next on May 12, 2025.

Votes at a glance: The consent calendar (minutes of April 7, 2025) was approved in a separate earlier motion, carried 4-0 with Commissioner Buss recorded as abstaining. The 2024 general plan and housing element annual progress report was received and filed and the commission found the action is not a CEQA project (motion carried 5-0).