Ventura Is Expected to Seek State Courthouse : Downtown: Second-district appellate judges now meet in rented quarters. Last month, California called for proposals for a new facility.

The city of Ventura and an Orange County developer hope that hardwood floors and the historic style of a Victorian building will lure the state Court of Appeal to downtown Ventura.

The City Council is expected to sign an agreement today to work exclusively with developer Hall, Moore & Co. to design and build a courthouse for the 2nd District Court of Appeal, serving Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Pending state approval, the city proposes to locate the 24,000-square-foot building at Santa Clara and Figueroa streets downtown, across from three Victorian-style houses refurbished as professional offices by attorney Donald Parrish.

The permanent offices for the 2nd District judges would replace cramped, rented quarters in east Ventura. It would also provide the judges with a hearing room for the first time since they set up the Ventura office in 1983. The judges now borrow hearing rooms from county supervisors in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“We need to have two or three hearings a month, and we have to beg, borrow or steal room from other agencies,” Judge Steven J. Stone said. “We have very little storage space, and most importantly, we have no courtroom.”

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, will vote today during its 7:30 p.m. meeting on whether to negotiate a contract with Hall, Moore & Co. to develop the site. Hall, Moore still would have to win approval from the state, which called for proposals for a new court building last month.

The 2nd District courthouse will provide offices for seven justices--the court now has three--and a support staff of about 45. The design would include a 58-space parking lot for the public and another 49 spaces for the employees in a secured underground lot.

Stone, Parrish and Ventura Mayor Richard Francis said bringing a Court of Appeal to downtown Ventura would help revitalize the area.

“It will be an important asset to downtown,” said Francis, an attorney who sometimes pleads cases before the Court of Appeal.

“It’s a high-quality use for the property,” Parrish said. “Even though it’s a new building, they can still preserve the Victorian style.”

But the proposal faces a tough hurdle, Francis said. The courthouse, which would displace the Saturday-morning farmers market and two small privately owned houses, is not permitted under the city’s water-rationing ordinance.

A slightly larger Court of Appeal building in Santa Ana uses nearly three times the amount of water consumed by the two houses and the city parking lot that serves as a farmers market.

But almost 80% of water for the Santa Ana building is used for landscaping. The Ventura building developer has agreed to use roses and drought-resistant shrubs that would require no more water than is consumed by the residents and the city lot, officials said.

“Our downtown revitalization plan is largely dependent on the ability to redirect growth to the urban core of the city,” Francis said. “But none of that will work if we don’t free up the water.”

Francis said the farmers market could be relocated somewhere in the downtown area.

“We’re not going to lose it,” he said.