State Coastal Panel to Open Office in Downtown Ventura

The California Coastal Commission will open an office in downtown Ventura by next spring, in an effort to locate its staff closer to pressing coastal matters.

The commission decided to move its South Central Coast office from Santa Barbara to Ventura, partly to help manage the commission’s considerable workload in Malibu.

Coastal issues in Malibu, now handled by the commission’s Long Beach office, will be transferred to the new Ventura office.

“We’re trying to spread the workload equitably,” said Tom Crandall, the agency’s deputy director.

Malibu, as a newly incorporated city, will have to present a coastal plan in conformance with the California Coastal Act. This action is expected to generate public controversy and a heavy workload for the new office in Ventura.

At the same time, Crandall said, the new facility with a bigger staff will be well positioned to deal with commission issues in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties--all of which are under the jurisdiction of the South Central Coast office.

James Johnson, the agency’s South Central Coast manager, said Wednesday that his Santa Barbara staff will be joined in Ventura with others from Long Beach. The new office will have a staff of about 20 employees.

“We’re looking at a downtown Ventura location near City Hall,” Johnson said.

The new location, he said, would allow the commission to hold one or more state meetings a year in the Ventura City Hall chambers.

The commission’s current downtown Santa Barbara offices are in a Victorian-style office building built in the 1870s. The commission has operated its office in Santa Barbara for 18 years.

“Hopefully, we’ll find a location of equal interest in Ventura so the public will come visit us,” Johnson said.

The commission, established in 1973, helps local governments create coastal plans in conformance with the California Coastal Act, and works with local government to bring current plans into conformity with state coastal policies. The agency also assists cities in regulating development along the coast and reviews oil and gas exploration in state and federal waters.