Ventura Planners Favor Allotting 472 Dwellings Among 5 Projects

VENTURA —  Saying they want a better mix of housing in Ventura, members of the Planning Commission have recommended allotting 472 new dwellings among five projects to build apartments, mobile homes and a few single-family homes, mostly on the city’s east end.

“I’m really happy with the projects we did choose,” said Ted Temple, chairman of the Planning Commission. “They were granted over a wide variety of housing types that fit many needs in the community.”

The recommendations now go to the City Council, which is scheduled to make a final decision July 14.

The commission’s action Tuesday night was the first step in breaking a three-year housing moratorium in Ventura, instantly rekindling debate about the pace of growth in the city.

About 20 residents spoke against the projects proposed for their neighborhoods. They complained about the loss of beautiful orchards, the burden of extra traffic and the fear of dense housing that blankets other places.

“I grew up in the San Fernando Valley,” east Ventura resident Karen Stelck said. “I saw it go from a beautiful agricultural area to a congested area with mini-marts on every corner. I do not want that to happen here.”

The Planning Commission met a week after voters approved an $81-million school bond to deal with school crowding, primarily on the east end of the city.

Commissioners evaluated 10 housing projects, which proposed building a total of 1,931 units. But the city has limited this round to only 472 dwellings.

The units represent the last round of housing allocations under the city’s old residential growth management plan. Beginning next year, new standards for managing growth in the city will be phased in.

After four hours of perusing plans, listening to developers’ pitches and weighing residents’ concerns, the commission recommended allocations for the following projects:

* 100 apartment units on the northwest corner of Ralston Street and Cypress Point Lane.

* 35 condominiums and single-family homes on the northwest corner of Ventura Avenue and Shoshone Street.

* 136 mobile homes and apartments north of Copland Street between the Santa Paula Freeway and Telephone Road.

* Nine duplexes on the southwest corner of Kimball and Foothill roads.

* 192 apartments and single-family homes on the southeast corner of Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue.

Carl Morehouse, a county planner who lives in Ventura, criticized the projects as being “your standard business-as-usual, cul-de-sac developments,” which he described as garages with houses attached. He urged the commission to seek more innovative designs.

Commissioner Chuck Thomas agreed that the designs were not especially remarkable. But he said he hoped that the new allocations, if approved by the council, would give Ventura residents more choice.

“I think in the last couple of rounds of housing allocations, we have been heavy on single-family homes,” he said. “We need to round out the project types. We need to provide housing to a broad range of people.”

He singled out the 100-unit apartment project at Ralston Street and Cypress Point Lane as an example of what the city is trying to promote, because it is between two existing developments, and also within walking distance of public transportation and shopping centers.

Once the projects are approved, work will not start until October 1999--so that Ventura can stay under its planned population cap of 105,000 in the year 2000.

Commissioner Ingrid Elsel abstained from voting on the projects because she was a consultant for one of them. Vice-chairwoman Lynn Jacobs also did not vote because one of the proposed projects could have affected property values on a development she built.