Adaptation and Resilience
The City’s Adaptation and Resilience (AR) Strategy is focused on preparing the community and municipal operations for climate-related risks by reducing heat impacts, strengthening emergency response and energy resilience, improving water supply resilience, and addressing wildfire threats.
Key objectives include expanding urban canopy and exploring cooling strategies to lessen extreme heat exposure; developing resilience hubs, distributed energy resources, backup power, and emergency transit coordination to improve readiness during outages and disasters; advancing long-term water conservation and management approaches to support water supply reliability; and pursuing planning and policy strategies that reduce wildfire vulnerability and improve community safety.
Status Summary
Most AR measures are currently planned or in progress, consistent with the CEAP implementation timelines for heat resilience, emergency preparedness, and local energy resilience. The City is advancing early planning efforts for resilience-focused improvements at City facilities, including plans to create an emergency cooling and evacuation center at the Grant R. Brimhall Library.
The City is advancing emergency transit coordination and communication capabilities to better support evacuation and emergency response needs, particularly for vulnerable populations who may depend on transit during emergencies. Recent actions include securing a secondary compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling site for emergency use through an agreement with Athens and coordinating with Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) to procure new on-board radio equipment to improve regional communication between transit agencies. Together, these efforts help strengthen operational continuity and improve the City’s ability to maintain and coordinate transit services during emergency events.
Project Highlight
The City installed new paper displays at 25 bus shelters and the Thousand Oaks Transportation Center. These displays enhance the city’s ability to communicate directly with riders by providing real-time transit updates and emergency notifications at critical locations throughout the community. As a resilience measure, the ePaper system improves situational awareness, supports more effective public communication during disruptions, and helps transit users make informed decisions during emergencies.
What’s Next
- Rehabilitation work at La Granada Reservoir is currently in progress as part of the City’s reservoir seismic and structural upgrade program. The project includes improvements to the tank, altitude valve vault, and access road, along with interior and exterior coating rehabilitation and seismic retrofits to maintain operational reliability, protect water infrastructure, and reduce earthquake-related risk.
- The City is advancing a microgrid project at the Lang Ranch Pump Station that includes a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), microgrid controls, and backup generation to provide resilient off-grid power during outages, reduce peak electricity demand, and support the continuity of critical water operations. The project also advances the resiliency of the City’s water supply network by expanding battery storage at water infrastructure and evaluating cleaner emergency backup energy solutions that improve reliability while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- The proposed improvements at the Kelley, Lang Ranch, Meadows, and Oakbrook reservoir and pump station sites focus on fire hardening, protection of critical equipment, and site access and drainage upgrades. Work includes fire-resistant roofing, new protective canopies, driveway and access improvements, retaining walls, safety railings, and drainage enhancements to enhance facility durability, safety, and operational reliability. Together, these upgrades strengthen the resilience of key water system infrastructure against wildfire risk, weather-related exposure, and emergency conditions.