OJAI : School Board Backs Path for Students

The board of the Ojai Unified School District has voted to support a proposed pedestrian walkway and bike path that would connect the unincorporated area of Meiners Oaks with Ojai, officials said.

Board members’ concerns about student safety prompted unanimous support of the proposed pedestrian walkway and bike path, which would go through the Arbolada, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, Supt. Andrew Smidt said Wednesday.

The path would go through the Arbolada on Cuyama, Sierra and El Paseo roads, Smidt said. Some students now have to cross a busy intersection and walk along the side of the road to get to school.

The path has been a topic of debate in Ojai since it was proposed in February. The City Council will make the final decision on the path. Residents of the Arbolada have spoken in opposition to it at a council meeting and at a public hearing on the issue.

But some parents and teachers have supported the path, and 142 residents signed a petition in favor of the project.

A petition opposing the project, which will cost about $60,000 and is to be financed jointly by the city and county, received 22 signatures.

Smidt said the board asked him at Tuesday’s meeting to write a letter to the city stating the district’s conceptual support of the project and stressing the need to guarantee safe student access to and from Matilija Junior High School and Nordhoff High School.

“The board is not saying the walkway should take a specific route or path, but that there must be some way of accommodating students traveling to and from school in those areas,” Smidt said.