Day-Care Center Project Needs More City Funds

The Thousand Oaks City Council, which has already decided to spend $1.3 million to buy a vacant seniors’ facility and convert it to a child-care center, will consider Tuesday whether to spend an additional $777,000 on the project.

City housing officials are working with Roots and Wings, the child-care provider hired by Thousand Oaks to turn the former Goebel Senior Center at 110 Conejo School Road into a day-care center.

They have concluded that the center needs to accommodate at least 100 children, 20 of whom will have to come from low-income families for the city to meet the requirements of an annual $68,000 state grant.

A 1993 survey by Thousand Oaks found that there was a need for more than 8,000 child-care “spaces” in the city, and city officials believe public money is needed to support affordable child-care options.

The City Council has already authorized $700,000 in Community Development Block Grant money to acquire the building. Council members also voted to spend $600,000 to rehabilitate the site.

But city housing officials are now saying that their original estimates, which were made before an architect provided a detailed assessment of the building, were off the mark. They say the building needs a substantial amount of work to meet state requirements.

By contrast, building an entirely new facility would cost Thousand Oaks $2.25 million, according to a city report.