Council Clears Roadblocks to Auto Center Improvements

VENTURA —  Hoping to clear the way for desperately needed road improvements near the Ventura Auto Center, the City Council voted Monday night to indefinitely postpone two projects that have stalled major development in the area for years.

After a brief discussion, the council followed a staff recommendation and unanimously agreed to shelve--at least for now--a $22-million plan to extend Olivas Drive to Johnson Drive and to build a large levee along the Santa Clara River.

The council also reversed its decision last fall to certify an environmental impact report encompassing the Olivas Drive project and other development for the land south of the Ventura Freeway.

A year of controversy that tied some auto mall improvements into an ambitious proposal for a sports and entertainment complex called Centerplex sharply divided the council, but Monday night’s decision was made quickly and with a united sense of purpose.

“I took office seven years ago. . . . I never thought I’d see this day,” said Councilman Gary Tuttle.

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Last week, City Manager Donna Landeros recommended that the council reconsider its support for a major extension of Olivas Park Drive after it became clear that building a levee anywhere in the area would likely generate a lawsuit--from the city of Oxnard, local environmentalists or area landowners, such as the Montalvo Municipal Improvement District. The levee would have removed some of the land, now used mostly as celery fields, from a designated federal flood plain.

In another potential lawsuit, Oxnard and the wildlife advocacy group California Trout Inc. had earlier appealed the city’s environmental report for the area.

Two environmentalists and a city of Oxnard representative urged the council Monday night to reverse it. “This is the first time I can remember coming before your city and supporting a staff recommendation,” said Richard Maggio, Oxnard’s community development specialist and projects director. “Maybe it’s because it’s a new year.”

Carla Bard, former chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board who is now an environmentalist for Patagonia, also supported Monday night’s vote.

“This will end a conflict that would have steadily continued at a great waste of taxpayer time and money,” she said.

On Thursday, John Hofer, whose family owns most of the land on which the auto mall is built, withdrew his application to build a 4,500-seat minor league baseball stadium on the fields behind the auto center.

Because the environmental report covered the entire area and included the possibility of a stadium, city officials feared that litigation could delay any development in the area--even those more modest road improvements that had earlier received environmental clearance.

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In particular, the officials wanted to proceed with a $2.7-million plan to connect the two ends of Sikorsky Street, lengthen Hofer Drive and Olivas Park Drive, and extend Perkin Avenue to put an end to what some car dealers consider a navigational nightmare.

Council members said they were pleased with Monday’s decision to at last focus the city’s energies on enhancing the auto center. The auto center is one of the city’s main sources of sales tax revenue, generating about $1.5 million annually--roughly 10% of Ventura’s total--and as such merits the city’s attention, officials said.

“The degree of complexity in making improvements for the auto center is just another indication of why we shouldn’t have wasted so much time on baseball, and should have gotten to work on auto mall improvements a year ago,” Councilman Steve Bennett said before the meeting.

Councilman Jim Friedman, too, expressed impatience. He said he wanted to move forward quickly to link the series of dead-end roads behind the auto center that often leave out-of-town shoppers lost, frustrated and stranded in the celery fields.

“Now we can get down to the business of improving the traffic circulation in that area, and at the same time help the businesses,” Friedman said.

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Although the smaller road improvements received environmental approval at different times over the last three years, the funding has not yet been approved by the council. David Kleitch, head of economic development for the city, said he expects to bring specific plans about auto center road improvements before the council for consideration this spring, and predicts construction of the new streets will begin by summer.

Local auto dealers lauded staff’s recommendations, but remained cautious.

“They were supposed to do this years ago--years and years ago,” said Frank Kirby, owner of Kirby Oldsmobile-Jeep-Suzuki.”I’m just tired of waiting. When I see it done, I will believe it.”