DOS VIENTOS PROJECTS RESUBMITTED.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

As the real estate market strengthens, developers of Dos Vientos Ranch in Newbury Park are moving forward with long-dormant plans for the sprawling housing project.

Last week, the city approved plans by Operating Engineers Funds Inc.'s plan for a 584-unit subdivision. Courtly Homes Inc., the second of the two Dos Vientos developers, is petitioning the city for permission to build 328 more.

The applications, which entail revisions to previously approved plans, are scheduled for a hearing Monday at a special Planning Commission meeting.

Commission Chairman Forrest Frields said the recovering real estate market is encouraging the developers to get going again.

``That's what we've been saying the last three months,'' he said. ``Projects that have been sitting on the back burner are coming. And it's a great idea to improve the projects, too.''

He noted that the housing market is down nearly everywhere else in the state. ``In the Southland, the demand is up,'' he said.

Officials with Courtly Homes did not return telephone calls Friday.

Courtly Homes is seeking to change a permit for 224 detached duplexes to 208 detached single-family condominium homes. It also wants to scale down a tract from 132 single-family detached homes to 110 units.

The projects are south and east of the western end of Kimber Drive.

The commission also is expected to rule Monday on whether to recommend certification of the project's environmental report.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved Operating Engineers' 584-unit subdivision and other petitions from the developer - including its proposal to change the grading of the Borchard Road extension from the previously approved 5 percent slope to the much steeper 12 percent.

The grading change, which will save the developer money while helping preserve more of the hillside, brought cries of outrage from area residents who said it would create a hazard for schoolchildren.

Meanwhile, grading has been completed for a tract of some 230 homes to be built by Operating Engineers.

If Courtly Homes' applications are approved by the Planning Commission and, ultimately, the City Council, more than 1,100 homes would be on-line for construction.

Overall, the development is slated to include more than 2,350 homes, including about 350 senior apartments. About 1,200 of the homes are to be constructed by Courtly Homes, with the rest to be completed by Operating Engineers.

The nearly 2,400-acre Dos Vientos development also will include parks and an equestrian center.

The project has come under fire from environmentalists and Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Jaime Zukowski, who have charged that it will upset the ecology of the setting and bring unacceptable noise and air pollution.

Frields, however, said the project will stimulate the city's economy ultimately by creating a demand for services.

``It is the people who came first. We demanded services,'' Frields said. ``So business comes and serves the will of the people, not the other way around.''

The Planning Commission will meet at 5 p.m. Monday in the Forum Theatre in the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.