VENTURA : Council Delays Vote on Housing Project

The Ventura City Council has postponed a decision on a 147-unit affordable housing project in east Ventura after the panel discovered that the developer has been involved in significant litigation in recent years.

The council voted unanimously Monday to postpone until Nov. 17 a decision on the project to give the developer, Ernest T. Mansi of Oxnard, a chance to explain why he was involved in so many lawsuits.

The project by KNM Development Inc., which Mansi heads, had been tentatively approved Oct. 15 but was sent back to the planning staff for minor redesign.

Since then, the council learned that Mansi had been involved in at least 10 lawsuits in the last six years concerning development projects in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Ventura Mayor Richard Francis said.

Francis said he was especially concerned about two nursing home projects, one is Lompoc and one in Santa Paula, that were never completed, and the collapse of a roof in a condominium project in Oxnard. Mansi did the engineering studies on the Oxnard project.

Mansi was present Monday for the hearing but declined to make any comment.