VENTURA : Keys Residents File Pollution Claims

The city of Ventura has received 87 legal claims in the past week from residents of the Ventura Keys, a posh waterfront neighborhood just west of Ventura Harbor, demanding that the city clean up their polluted waterways.

The claims, the first step in filing a lawsuit, allege that the city is responsible for coliform counts far in excess of federal standards for the Keys Channels, designated as a water sports area.

Residents are also demanding that the city dredge the Keys and reimburse them for losses in property values resulting from the contamination, said attorney Don Adams, a spokesman for the homeowners.

The city has 45 days to respond to the claims, after which the plaintiffs will have up to six months to file suit, Adams said.

Keys residents say city drain runoffs are largely responsible for pollution. They have told the City Council that unless a compromise is reached, they will sue the city before the end of the year.

Keys residents would seek $100 million to $150 million in compensatory damages, Adams said.

Councilman Todd Collart said Monday that he hoped that a lawsuit could be averted, but negotiations between the two parties have dragged on fruitlessly for months.

City officials say Keys residents--not city taxpayers--should pay for the bulk of the cleanup.

City Manager John Baker said he believed that the area was erroneously designated as a water sports area because most marinas in the state do not have that designation. He said he will seek a change in the designation, which would eliminate restrictions on high coliform counts.

On Sept. 24, after a sewage spill was detected, the city closed the area’s two small beaches and banned swimming in the channels. The ban is still in effect.

As for dredging, city officials say they are responsible for only one-fourth of the silt accumulation in the channels, and they have offered to pay 25% of the dredging costs--an offer that the residents have rejected.