OJAI : Council Questions Golf Course Plan

Members of the Ojai City Council have announced that they will send county officials a letter detailing their concerns over potential traffic problems and other effects that could arise if a private golf course is built east of the city.

The announcement came late Tuesday after a lengthy question-and-answer session with representatives of the Farmont Corp., which was addressing the council regarding its plans to build an exclusive golf course on 204 acres next to California 150.

Councilmen James D. Loebl and Joe DeVito spearheaded the questioning of Farmont environmental consultant Steve Craig and questioned whether the project will be in the city’s best interests.

“This will be nothing more than a facility with a fence around it, with the people of Ojai excluded,” Loebl said.

Loebl’s comments were disputed by Craig, who had announced at the meeting that a local land conservancy had conditionally accepted a donation of about 1,500 acres owned by the corporation. The land, which is next to the site of the proposed course, would be the largest donation of open space ever made in the Ojai Valley, Craig said.

Council members also criticized other aspects of the project, including a proposed measure to mitigate potential traffic increases on California 33, the already congested route to Ojai.

“Some of these traffic proposals are simply a joke,” Loebl said. Craig defended the measures, saying they would offset any potential effect on the highway.

The city’s letter will be submitted to the Environmental Review Committee, which will hold hearings this summer on the environmental report, said Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap.