Local News in Brief : Ventura County Delays Decision on Bell Ranch

Ventura County officials on Thursday postponed a decision on the fate of the Bell Movie Ranch, one of the last privately owned Western movie sets in Southern California.

County planning commissioners voted to allow ranch owner Tony Stimolo to continue renting the ranch to Hollywood film companies until officials decide whether to require him to widen a private road that leads to the site.

Stimolo has argued that it would be unfair to make him pay the full cost of the estimated $390,000 widening of Studio Road in the Box Canyon area of eastern Ventura County because 13 homeowners also use it.

The officials, who are barred from forcing residents to make improvements on a private road, will have one year to decide whether to require Stimolo to pay for the widening, drop the requirement or pay for it themselves, county associate planner James Caruso said.

Stimolo’s initial permit to operate the movie set expired last fall. County fire officials had ruled in April that, before a new permit can be issued, Stimolo must make the improvements to a nearly one-mile stretch of the road to provide better access for fire and other emergency vehicles.

The movie set, once home to television’s Wyatt Earp and Marshal Matt Dillon, was built in the 1950s but is in an area that no longer allows such commercial use. The site is used for filming an average of 15 days a year, officials said.