OJAI : Neighbors Oppose Housing Project

A band of determined neighbors vowed Wednesday to seek a legal challenge to a 21-unit affordable-housing project in downtown Ojai that has gained approval of the Ojai City Council.

“We are dismayed, saddened, shocked but certainly not surprised” that the project was approved, said Darrell Pilcher, a member of Citizens Against the Montgomery Oaks Project.

Pilcher joined eight others at a news conference Wednesday on the 1.9-acre site at 508 N. Montgomery St. The chiropractor, who has a home and office on North Montgomery, said the group represents about 15 to 20 people who will seek a lawyer to explore ways to challenge the legality of the four-building complex.

The $2.5-million project is being developed by the Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. of Saticoy. About half of the cost is expected to be subsidized by state and city affordable-housing programs, including a $250,000 pledge from the Ojai Redevelopment Agency, said Karen Flock, Cabrillo project manager.

Ojai City Manager Andy Belknap said he considered the North Montgomery parcel a “reasonably good” site for low-income housing. He said state law requires communities to provide affordable housing and that if Ojai does not meet state requirements, the city may be forced to accept projects without local consent.

“From a neighborhood perspective such projects are almost always perceived in a negative light,” Belknap said.

“It’s a population density nightmare,” Pilcher said of the plan to build nine two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom units. He said he would like the land to be used as a city park instead.

Pilcher said he is not opposed to affordable housing but prefers that the project be built on a 3.7-acre site on Mallory Way where there are cottage apartments that could be removed or incorporated into the plan.

He said the environmental impact report for the North Montgomery site is flawed and does not give adequate consideration to a high-density population that already exists in the neighborhood.

Nor does it give enough information about alternative sites, he said.