West County Issue / Building a...

Steven J. Stone, Presiding justice, Division 6, State Court of Appeal

The Farmers’ Market will be displaced but it will continue at another site that has yet to be identified. I think the courthouse should be built. A courthouse will be built somewhere--the question is where. I’ve been in Ventura County for 30 years, and I believe the best place could well be downtown Ventura in the redevelopment area. The redevelopment area needs some long-term facilities, whether they’re retail, commercial or government. A courthouse would last 20 years or longer. It will provide for my staff and the people who use the courthouse a wonderful place close to beach and the mission with many amenities within walking distance. We absolutely have to move and the state has agreed. We can move anywhere in the tri-counties area, either in Ventura County, Santa Barbara County or San Luis Obispo County. Certainly by the time the courthouse would come about, the drought would be over. We would use the same amount of water whether we are in this building or a new building.

Jim Monahan, Ventura city councilman

I think there are other projects that are just as important that have been on books for a long time. I don’t think we should shove this project ahead of others that have been waiting for their water allocations. I don’t think it should be given special priority. I feel there are other buildings that would better serve the needs of a courthouse. There is a five-story building just behind City Hall which has adequate parking and could be converted. It has an ocean view and the other site does not. This is only a proposal--it’s not a project. We’re treating it like it is. The city wants to take water that these other projects have been waiting for and use it for this one. My feeling is we have to deal with the water issue first before we do anything. If we’re going to make projects wait, then every project should wait. There is a general philosophy that some of the City Council members are influenced by special interests and this is one of them. I don’t feel there is an urgent need for this building.

Karen Wetzel, Business manager, Ventura County Certified Farmers’ Market Assn.

Our program was initially sponsored by the city revitalization program 5 1/2 years ago, and we’ve always understood they would be developing this site. We’ve known ever since we’ve been working with the city that we’d some day move. The city has been communicating with us all along and has let us know as it has progressed toward putting together a development for this site. The courthouse plans have not surprised us. It’s giving us the incentive to move in a more timely fashion. We’ll stay in the downtown Ventura area, and we’ve already been looking for a new site that we’d like to be in by next summer. Our peak season is summer and early fall, and this year we’re at our maximum capacity. Every summer, it just gets more crowded. The water issue really doesn’t impact us. Our business is a very temporary site and so we wouldn’t have the same issues to deal with as a permanent downtown business. The only thing that impacts us is the timing.

Conner Everts, Water-conservation consultant

The city of Ventura has an excellent water-conservation program, and they’re planning a comprehensive audit of four of their top water users. What’s happening in some areas is that they are offsetting the new water demands by retrofitting other buildings with water-saving devices. The real issue is how serious the supply and demand is in Ventura. If there is going to be a moratorium, will there be any public buildings built? If so, how much water will be offset? What they’ve found is that a one-to-one retrofit doesn’t give you enough savings. You must retrofit two or three times more than the amount of water that will be used in the new building. They can start looking at public buildings in general by replacing toilets and showers. They can also start looking at ways of reclaiming water in a building. The reclaimed water can be used to water lawns, flush toilets or for heating and cooling units. The only thing is, when you’re in a serious water emergency, you can’t look at building any new buildings.

Don Parrish, Attorney

I’m in favor of the proposed courthouse and I hope the city will approve it. It’s the kind of facility in the downtown area that would be a boost to all of the property owners and merchants downtown and would enhance the redevelopment area of the city. I think it would be a beautiful facility that would add to the effort of the city to attract tourists. It seems to me that that kind of use as far as the water moratorium is concerned would be preferable compared to a hotel or motel, where you would have a number of users depleting our water supply. I’ve been practicing law in the community for 25 years, and when I came here there were approximately 75 attorneys in the Ventura County Bar Assn. Now we have almost 900. It would seem to me that with so many attorneys, a local permanent court of appeal building in the county would be a tremendous convenience -- particularly for me, since I’ll be located across the street from it. The only bad thing is, I won’t have an excuse if I’m late to court.