VENTURA : Planners Support 3 Low-Profile Projects

Ignoring some of the flashiest projects before them, including a controversial land swap proposed by developer Ron Hertel, Ventura’s Planning Commission has recommended that three small, low-profile projects receive the city’s coveted annual housing allocation.

Planning commissioners supported this week three projects that would add a total of 176 dwellings to the city, slightly more than the 165 city planners recommended for the entire year.

None of the units would be single-family homes.

“I feel very good about what the commission did,” Chairwoman Ingrid Elsel said. “If you notice, all the projects we approved are small and fill in space between existing developments.”

Commissioners recommended approving 36 condominiums near the intersection of Cedar and Kellogg streets, 80 mobile homes northwest of Copland Drive at Telephone Road and 60 apartment units at the corner of Darling Road and Saticoy Avenue.

The recommendations will go to the City Council, which is expected to make a final decision July 25. Several major projects will also go to the council at the same time, but without Planning Commission support.

Among those, Hertel’s 437-home proposal for the east side may be the most controversial. He would give the city $2 million and land at Kimball and Telephone roads for a regional park in exchange for permission to build his subdivision on a city-owned lemon orchard at Telegraph Road and Petit Avenue.

Council members, reflecting the community overall, are divided over the proposal. But commissioners rejected it as too large and not a good enough deal for the city.

A 330-home project on Ventura Avenue, proposed by the Neel and Huntsinger families and Kinko’s Service Corp., is supported by most council members. They say it will breathe new life into the aging Avenue area. Many commissioners, however, said they did not like the project’s design.