OAK VIEW : Restaurant Hearing Delayed Over Report
The question of whether a proposed spaghetti restaurant will add to air pollution in the Ojai Valley was postponed Wednesday by a Ventura County committee.
The Environmental Report Review Committee postponed until Aug. 1 a public hearing on whether the owner of Vince’s Spaghetti House should pay $27,965 in air pollution fees to offset the restaurant’s projected traffic impact. County officials have estimated that the Oak View restaurant could generate 600 vehicle trips a day.
The hearing was put off to allow the county Air Pollution Control District time to analyze a new traffic study on the restaurant. The owner, John Cuccia of Ojai, commissioned the study.
According to LeRoy Andrews, architect for the proposed 7,984-square-foot restaurant, the new study indicates that the spaghetti house would generate less than a third of the traffic that the consultant had originally projected.
Andrews said the study indicates that the actual figure should be less than 200 vehicle trips. The lower amount would either reduce or eliminate Cuccia’s smog-control fee. If required, the fee would be earmarked for programs designed to reduce traffic in the Ojai Valley.
Cuccia’s application is the first development to run up against tightened air quality standards for the Ojai Valley that took effect Jan. 1.
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