COUNTYWIDE : Supervisors to Vote on Zoning Proposal

The County Board of Supervisors is expected today to approve an agreement that will allow the city of Ventura to expand its downtown redevelopment zone while also bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes over the next 20 years.

Under the proposal, which already has been approved by the Ventura City Council, the county has agreed not to legally challenge Ventura’s four-acre expansion of its 151-acre downtown redevelopment zone.

In exchange, Ventura has agreed to pass along to the county a 25% share of the property tax on new construction on the four acres.

State law allows cities to establish redevelopment zones in blighted neighborhoods. Once a neighborhood is within such a zone, all property taxes from new construction go to a city redevelopment agency rather than being split among the city, county and school districts.

Since 1983, however, Ventura County has legally challenged every new city redevelopment zone in the county, insisting that the city is eroding the county’s tax base, from which it provides countywide services.

Either through lawsuits or the threat of suit, the county has regained about half of the $25 million it would have lost to new or expanded redevelopment zones, county Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg said.

“From the county’s perspective, redevelopment starves the county of funds that cannot be used for the support of health care, welfare and the criminal justice system,” Wittenberg said.

The county has sued Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Fillmore over the issue in recent years, he said.