OJAI : Residents Protest Plan for Walkway
More than 15 angry Ojai residents asked the City Council on Tuesday to suspend plans for a pedestrian walkway and a new intersection at the entrance to the Arbolada, one of Ojai’s oldest neighborhoods.
A spokesman for the group submitted a petition with 38 signatures, demanding that the city hold a public hearing on the proposed alterations at Cuyama and Del Norte roads.
The walkway project, jointly funded by Ventura County and Ojai, was designed to create a safe crossing zone for students walking to Matilija Junior High School and Meiners Oaks Elementary School, said Public Works Director Stan Moore.
Residents speaking against the plan complained that they were not consulted about the project. As planned, the asphalt path will cut in front of several homes.
Dennis McCarthy, the Del Norte Road homeowner who will be most affected by the proposed walkway, agreed that the intersection was dangerous, but opposed the walkway proposal.
“This was done without taking into account the sentiment and feeling of the general public,” McCarthy said. “Wouldn’t it have been helpful for the City Council to take into account the concerns of people living in this area before undertaking such an expenditure of public funds?”
The City Council postponed approval of the project’s conceptual design and agreed to hold a public hearing.
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