COUNTYWIDE : Law Change Would Help Home Builders
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote today on an ordinance amendment that could bring some relief to county residents who have been unable to build homes in the Ojai Valley for lack of water.
If the board approves an amendment to the Ojai Valley Clean Air Ordinance, residents who are unable to build for lack of water will be allowed to maintain their spot on a waiting list, county planner Steve Wood said.
The ordinance was enacted in 1982 to cut air pollution resulting from traffic on California 33 by limiting development, County Planning Director Keith Turner said.
Only 72 permits were issued under the act in January, but an unknown number of those permit holders have been unable to build due to a moratorium on new water hookups enacted by the Casitas Municipal Water District, Wood said.
The district supplies the Ojai Valley, Wood said. Most of the landowners issued building permits must secure water from Casitas before proceeding, Wood said.
Currently, any landowner unable to complete the permit process--which includes showing proof that water hookups have been granted--within a four-month period is dropped to the bottom of the county’s waiting list, Turner said.
The amendment would allow landowners who are unable to proceed to maintain their spot on the waiting list, Wood said.
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