Citizens for Responsible Development in Thousand Oaks has dropped its legal challenge to the city's Downtown Project after running out of money to pay a lawyer.
The group filed a petition for a writ of mandate in Ventura County Superior Court on Aug. 12, alleging the city blocked its effort to gather enough signatures to force a public vote on the mixed-use development. A hearing had been set for Sept. 14, but the group announced Sept. 10 that it could not continue, the Thousand Oaks Acorn reported.
The withdrawal clears a legal obstacle for the project, which would transform the Civic Arts Plaza area and adjacent westside property into a mixed-use downtown with housing, a hotel, shops, restaurants and public gathering spaces. The Thousand Oaks City Council voted 5-0 on June 23 to approve first-phase entitlements.
Citizens for Responsible Development launched a referendum campaign in July. Under city rules, the petition had to be submitted within 30 days of the city clerk attesting the ordinance and had to carry signatures from at least 10% of registered voters. The deadline fell on Aug. 12.
The group collected 7,128 signatures with 13 to 15 volunteers over those 30 days. That reached roughly 8% of the population. The threshold was 10%.
"I just felt like it's a David versus Goliath story," Jeanette Welling, a group member whose name appears on the legal filing, told the Acorn. "And if we would have had a little more time, we would have done it."
The petition alleged the city selectively enforced sign rules against the referendum campaign, disrupting signature gathering for about four days and costing an estimated 600 signatures, the Acorn reported Aug. 27. It also alleged the city directed the group to county officials instead of providing voter-registration data the campaign had requested through the California Public Records Act (CPRA).
City spokesperson Alexandra South said Aug. 27 that voter-registration numbers legally come from the county elections official's last report to the California secretary of state and that the information is available to the public online. The city said in an Aug. 27 statement that the group fell well short of the required signature count.
The group said in its Sept. 10 statement that the cost of legal counsel exceeded its resources. Welling said the organization is now shifting toward unspecified "state remedies" and plans to keep attending City Council meetings.
The first phase of the Downtown Project includes two seven-story buildings, a public park, playground, amphitheater, splash pad and tree decks. The city has said the first phase could break ground in 2027.
