Ojai to Consider Annexation of Outlying Areas : Expansion: Officials say they will proceed only if residents of affected communities support the plan. Some have already voiced opposition to becoming part of the city.

The city of Ojai--for years a bastion of no-growth sentiment--has decided to consider a major expansion of its boundaries if residents of the surrounding Ojai Valley show support for annexation.

City Councilman James Loebl’s proposal that the city study annexation touched off complaints this week from the nearby communities of Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte and Oak View that Ojai may be out to gobble them up.

Loebl made his proposal at Tuesday’s council meeting partly because of a decision by the County Board of Supervisors that could cost Ojai up to $50,000 a year for booking Ojai prisoners into Ventura County jail. Officials say the city cannot afford the expense.

But city officials say another factor in approval of an annexation study is Ojai’s view that it can better control growth in the surrounding Ojai Valley than the county, which now allows more annual growth around the city than is permitted inside Ojai itself.

In that respect, Ojai officials say, annexation of other Ojai Valley communities would actually be a step toward further growth control even though such a move would more than double the size of the city’s population, now about 7,500.

They also stressed that any annexation plans would be contingent on how receptive residents of the surrounding areas are to becoming part of the city--and receptivity was not reflected by initial reactions to the study.

“I’ll fight them, and I know a lot of people will,” Lanie Springer, Oak View’s honorary mayor, said in response to Loebl’s surprise move.

In her opinion, Springer said, Oak View’s 5,000 residents are doing fine outside of Ojai.

“We have a lot of different philosophies, and we don’t want to be part of Ojai,” she said.

Joe Gilson, who says he is the unofficial mayor of Meiners Oaks and the merchant who has been there the longest after 29 years repairing vacuum cleaners, also pronounced himself strongly against annexation.

“We’ll give them a bad time if they try to engulf us,” Gilson said. “They have nothing to offer to us. The people here will raise hell about it.”

Loebl, who is Ojai’s deputy mayor, asked the city manager Tuesday to return to the council as soon as possible with a proposal to hire a polling expert and an economic analyst to determine whether the city should annex surrounding areas.

“It’s a preliminary step to something that is long overdue,” Loebl said.

The study would focus on whether property and sales tax revenues and other revenues from unincorporated areas would provide enough money for Ojai to stretch its municipal services throughout the Ojai Valley, Loebl said.

The precise areas to be looked at in a financial feasibility study would depend on the public opinion poll exploring the views of residents about annexation, he said.

“If the people in the area are favorably inclined, then let’s look at it. If not, then let’s put it to bed,” said Loebl, a councilman for 22 years.

Ojai Mayor Nina Shelley supported Loebl, saying she is open to a study as long as it is a good one. Of annexation, she said, “It all depends on how the larger community feels about it. It’s a very serious matter. When someone calls me with a problem, I don’t ask them where they live unless it’s pertinent.

“The representation on the council would be interesting, whether there would be an effort to go to districts,” the mayor said. “I certainly see some benefits, particularly in view of some of our problems with the state mandates and the cities ending up paying the bill.”

Shelley said that although annexed areas might encounter Ojai’s tighter rein on building signs and fast-food restaurants, they might also benefit from its growth controls and fiscal management. “We only spend what we have to and we seem to always have a little bit left,” she said. Shelley also said city control of the current unincorporated areas could limit future growth.

“There has been considerable more growth in the unincorporated area of the valley than the city of Ojai would have allowed under its growth management plan,” she said. “It has had a significant impact on city residents who have found air quality and traffic problems compounded.”

The sudden renewal of talk about annexation by Ojai came as Ventura County released a two-year-old study this week. It concludes that if Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte, Oak View and Casitas Springs form a second city in Ojai Valley, that city would have a budget deficit of $275,000.

Creating a second city or a valleywide city in the Ojai Valley has been a controversial issue for more than 20 years. Several campaigns to create a valleywide city have failed.

Loebl acknowledged that some people dislike Ojai’s stricter building codes and land use management. But, he said, City Council members are constantly approached by non-city residents who ask what they can do to become part of Ojai.

“We are a going concern,” Loebl said, crediting city staff for creating the highest financial reserve the city has seen in years, now topping $1.4 million.

Bob Braitman, director of the Ventura County Local Agency Formation Commission, which reviews annexations, said his office would be happy to assist the city with any new annexation studies.