Bonds Denied for Apartment Overhaul

After gaining a lukewarm reception from an east Ventura community group, a developer’s plan to use state bonds to acquire and revamp an aging apartment complex was denied Monday by the Ventura City Council.

Newport Beach-based KDF Holdings had sought the council’s blessing on the issuance of $5 million in state bonds to rehabilitate the 81-unit Citrus Tree Apartments.

If successful, KDF would have had to restrict tenancy to people making no more than 60% of the county’s median income, meaning that as many as 22 renters would be displaced and forced to find other housing.

Although the city would not have been held financially responsible for the bonds, city approval was required to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service code.

Council members were concerned over even one tenant being displaced and believed the private sector, spurred by an upswing in the county housing market, could provide new ownership and rehabilitation of the complex.

Moreover, council members were swayed by the East Ventura Community Council, a burgeoning group of citizen activists, which was split on the proposal.

Some who live near the 23-year-old complex of six, two-story buildings equated low-income tenants with low moral standards and feared the project would decrease their property values.

“I feel it will increase crime . . . drug use, alcohol use, gang activity and graffiti, and I feel this would be a wrong decision,” east Ventura resident Steven Salinas said.