Study Backs Unification Effort in Ojai Valley : Annexation: A consultant concludes that a single large city would not be as costly as residents of small towns feared.

A long-awaited report issued this week says the city of Ojai should annex the unincorporated communities around it one at a time, unifying the Ojai Valley.

Consultant Richard Milbrodt of Sacramento presented the first draft of his report Thursday night to the Ojai Valley Local Government Options Committee, an ad hoc group of 17 residents studying the possibility of forming one government for the Ojai Valley. A final draft is due Nov. 14.

The report recommends that Ojai annex the communities one at a time, absorbing the unincorporated areas of the valley over a six- to 10-year period. Taxes now paid by residents in the unincorporated areas would not have to be raised to support the annexation or the enlarged city government, the report said.

And annexation would proceed only if approved by a majority of voters in each unincorporated area, the report said.

The report also recommended that the enlarged city replace its state-mandated council of five members, who are elected at large, with a government established under a home-rule charter, which would allow the residents to choose the size of their council.

The annexation proposal has long divided residents of Ojai and the unincorporated surrounding communities of Casitas Springs, Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte and Oak View, which are served by Ventura County.

A 10.5-mile border encircles Ojai, separating the city of 7,600 residents from the unincorporated valley that is home to 24,400 more people.

While city officials say unification would give residents outside the city more control over growth and their government than they have with the County Board of Supervisors, many valley residents fear that it would mean more government regulation and higher taxes.

However, city officials and opponents of the proposal said Friday that the report could allay some of those fears.

“I thought the committee received it positively,” said committee Chairman Mansfield Sprague, who lives in an unincorporated area in the east Ojai Valley. “They were pleased with the prospect that the cost of annexation would be nonexistent.”

“I have mixed emotions on it, because it’s going to be hard to sell no matter what,” said Lanie Jo Springer, honorary mayor of Oak View, where many residents oppose annexation. “But to me, it’s a place to start.”

Springer, who has been one of the annexation proposal’s most vocal critics, said committee members asked Milbrodt to clarify some issues in the final draft, such as the way the existing communities’ boundaries are drawn.

“I was surprised in one sense that there was no one who wanted to drop the whole thing, out of all that large group,” she said. “If all of those voices are starting to think seriously about it, there may be a possibility it will go forward.”

City Manager Andrew Belknap said a home-rule charter would allow the unincorporated areas to shape their roles in the enlarged city of Ojai while retaining their own identities.

The communities could insist that the new city be divided into districts, each one represented by a city council member, he said.

“I think the most significant finding in the report was that a combination of the city with some of the unincorporated areas would be financially feasible,” Belknap said. “The last couple of studies of this question looked at formation of an independent local government, and those turned out not to be feasible.”

Milbrodt’s report concludes that public services would change little under annexation because vital services such as water, sewers, schools and fire control already are provided by special service districts.

It also says that services provided by a unified Ojai would cost the unincorporated areas slightly less than they are paying now.

As the city government takes over duties now handled by the county government, county employees in departments such as public works, planning and recreation could be transferred to the city payroll, the report says.

Because sheriff’s deputies police the city on a contract basis, deputies now covering the unincorporated areas would simply join the contract.

The major obstacle will be selling the idea to skeptical Ojai Valley residents, Ojai Mayor James D. Loebl said.

“I think that the committee last night was cautiously--and I underline cautiously--optimistic, given the tentative draft nature of the report,” Loebl said Friday. “That bodes reasonably well for being able, we hope, to have everybody give it a fair appraisal. It’s not so revenue-positive that everybody will absolutely jump on it, but on the other hand, it doesn’t cost anything in dollars to the people in any of the areas.”

If Milbrodt’s final report satisfies the committee members, they will recommend that the Ojai City Council authorize Milbrodt to do three months of further study and draft detailed annexation plans, Sprague said.

Sprague said the committee would then hold public information hearings and, ultimately, send the annexation proposal for each area to a vote to let the residents choose the future of their community.