Ventura Officials Quiz Staff on Floods : Council: Recommendations are sought on how to avoid a repeat of the flooding that swamped an RV site earlier this month. A review of the park developer’s permit is asked.

The Ventura City Council deluged city planners and attorneys on Monday with questions about the flooding that washed out the Ventura Beach RV Park earlier this month.

Council members ordered city staff members to prepare reports for next Monday’s meeting to recommend how to avoid a repeat of the flooding that swamped the park at the mouth of the Ventura River, washing 10 to 15 motor homes and trailers out to sea and muddying dozens more.

“I’m officially asking that the RV park and its past and its future be put on the agenda,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said. “This is pretty serious and there’s a lot of people who have strong feelings about it, and I don’t think we can ignore it.”

The heavy rains throughout Southern California left eight people dead--including three in Ventura County--and five missing and caused an estimated $125 million in damage. In the city of Ventura, flooding caused at least $530,000 damage to drainage systems and untold losses to other private property.

Tuttle asked for an estimate of how much the city spent in overtime for emergency and cleanup workers during the flood and its aftermath. He also asked for a staff recommendation on who should remove ruined RVs from the river’s mouth, where they were dumped when the floodwaters receded.

Deputy Mayor Todd Collart asked city staff members to review the permit issued to park developer Arnold Hubbard in 1985 to determine whether he complied with its 69 conditions.

Collart also requested an accounting of how much the city spends on serving the park compared with its earnings in property taxes from the development. He also asked for a review of the flood warning system, which drew criticism from many park residents.

One condition placed on Hubbard’s permit was that he tie the park into the Ventura County Flood Control District’s early warning system so he could alert campers of rising water in the river.

When a rain gauge upriver at Canada Larga registers a certain volume of rainfall, the district is expected to call the park staff, which then is supposed to warn residents, said Everett Millais, the city director of community development.

Some park residents, however, said they were not warned of the rising flood danger until at least 30 minutes after county Flood Control District employees had telephoned a flood warning to the park’s staff.

Asked Councilwoman Cathy Bean: “How can we prevent this from happening again?”

Bean demanded an explanation of the label “hundred-year flood,” which county engineers had used to describe the magnitude of flooding caused by four consecutive heavy rainstorms. Bean questioned reports that were used in Hubbard’s permit application that said the park site was in such a 100-year flood area.

She cited U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports of similar flooding in 1938, 1943, 1952, 1958, 1969, 1973, 1978 and 1980.

“Now that is not a 100-year flood plain; that is a seven-year flood plain,” Bean said.

Collart also asked city staff members to outline procedures for altering Hubbard’s permit conditions. One condition that has raised questions requires that no camper stay at a park more than 30 consecutive days, with a minimum of 14 days between stays.

Records show, however, that some tenants have checked out on their 29th consecutive day at the park and checked back in the same day, city officials said. City officials also had observed on the day of the flood that several of the motor homes had flat tires and were not ready to leave promptly.

In an earlier interview, Hubbard said, “I think the intention of the City Council is that, first of all, the place should be available for tourists. And second of all, they don’t want people to establish a permanent residence.”

But he added, “We just kind of have to enforce the rules as we see them.”

In the wake of the rainstorms, the council on Monday voted to spend up to $530,000 to repair damaged drains, ditches and wells.

About $2,500 of the money will help pay to clear debris from 1,500 feet of the clogged Moreland Ditch, an earthen drainage channel along the south edge of Olivas Park Drive between Telephone Road and Victoria Avenue.

The rest will go to repair flood damage to the city water system intake on the Ventura River at Foster Park, a city well near the riverbank, and a pipe that carries water from wells on the river’s western bank to the system on its eastern bank.