Time for the Westlake sports park
The Westlake Village City Council was scheduled to vote last night on what has arguably been the most controversial land dispute in the history of the Conejo Valley.

In the late 1990s, the city and the Canyon Oaks Homeowners Association began locking horns over the development of a sports park on Lindero Canyon Road. The city at the time wanted to build the park on Lot 79, a parcel of land that straddled both sides of Lindero. The parcel on the east side of the road was eventually purchased by the Las Virgenes School District for construction of the new Yerba Buena Elementary School. On the west side of Lindero, the lot ran adjacent to some of the Canyon Oaks homes, which worried the HOA. At one point, the city made veiled threats to build low-income housing on the remainder of Lot 79 if Canyon Oaks didn't acquiesce to the sports park. The relationship grew acrimonious, but the two sides eventually agreed to find a solution to the Lot 79 problem.

During this time the city and the homeowners became aware of a third party, the Triunfo YMCA, which announced plans to build a new Y facility on a lot that it owned next to the Canyon Oaks homes. It seemed the poor homeowners were getting it from all sides, literally. Fortunately, a complicated three-way land swap was proposed that enabled the three parties- the city, the Y and the HOA- to each get what they wanted.

According to the deal, the HOA will trade some of its other property north of Thousand Oaks Boulevard between Via Colinas and La Baya in exchange for promises that the cityand Y-owned parcels next to the homes on Lindero will be protected. The agreement allows the sports park and YMCA to be built, finally, but at a location that doesn't threaten Canyon Oaks. Sophia Fischer discusses the nature of the projects in her article on page 12A.

Triunfo reportedly is one of the largest YMCAs in the country not to have its own permanent facility. The city, meanwhile, needs an active sports park to serve the youth of the community. The kids have been playing on makeshift fields long enough. If the homeowners can be assured the deal is in their interest, all parties should sign on the dotted line.

Westlake Village has waited long enough.