Innkeeper Seeks New Condo Limits

A tenacious innkeeper who battled Ventura City Hall and last year thwarted construction of a condominium complex that she claimed would have dwarfed her Victorian bed and breakfast is at it again.

Gisela Baida, owner of La Mer Bed and Breakfast in the 400 block of Poli Street in downtown Ventura, insists that the redesigned stucco complex “doesn’t fit into the block” of mostly wood, single-story houses.

At stake is the sleek new Island View Townhouse Project, next to La Mer, a European-style inn housed in a 100-year-old landmark.

The proposed 6,000-square-foot complex “squishes everything to the property line,” Baida said. The building would be constructed 5 feet from the edge of her lot, reducing the privacy of her guests, she said.

“They won’t come if they have to keep their curtains drawn,” she said.

Baida scoffed at the offer by Michael Wooten, president of Darrick Marten Development Co., to build a 10- or 20-foot-high wall between the two properties with a European-style fountain on her side. Instead, Baida said, she wants the complex set back 10 feet from the property line.

The height of the building, which will rise 8 feet above her roof, is another sore point. “It doesn’t need to be three stories,” Baida said. La Mer has two stories and a loft.

Last year, after intense lobbying by Baida, the City Council rejected the condominium proposal because it was too tall and bulky and would dwarf La Mer.

Baida has similar objections to the new design submitted by Wooten.

“We’ve reduced the building by about 10% overall and reconfigured the units,” Wooten said, adding that the lower ones now sit partially below ground level.

Under the current proposal, the building would be set into the hillside, reducing the height to less than 37 feet high, lowered from 45 last year, and will stand 30 feet from the street with each level terracing back even further, Wooten said.

At the base “it is slightly in front of La Mer, but significantly behind the building on the left, which is at a 20-foot setback,” Wooten noted.

Baida is pleased with the setback from the street, but she said she fears a drop in business if the proposal is approved at an April 4 City Council meeting.

“This is our scenic drive,” Baida said, referring to the historic buildings along Poli. “It won’t be any more after this. Ventura is known as a historical town. It will be lost if this is the new design.”

Baida said she is certain that if Ventura residents knew about the proposal, they would turn out and speak against it.

For his part, Wooten is also confident. “We believe it’s a project the City Council can support,” he said.

Lining up in support of Wooten’s proposal are the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, Architectural Review Board, Planning Commission and the Downtown Ventura Assn.