City Seeks to Tighten Design Reviews

Owners of businesses in Ojai’s downtown redevelopment area who want to remodel or repaint may have to get approval from several city boards.

Ojai City Council members voted Tuesday to authorize staff members to draft an ordinance that would require business owners to undergo architectural review for minor projects such as remodeling or painting. In the past, such approval was required only for major renovations.

The council’s advisory boards that would review the requests are the Historic Preservation Commission, the Redevelopment Commission and the Planning Commission.

The council decided to seek to review smaller projects to keep downtown merchants from straying too far from the area’s Mission-style theme.

Ojai officials are planning to designate the Arcade, post office tower and chapel on Ojai Avenue as historic landmarks, a step toward placing them in the National Register of Historic Places, officials said.

As part of the 4-0 vote Tuesday, the council also adopted a new policy that sets guidelines for colors and building materials to be used in any remodeling or painting of businesses along the arcade on Ojai Avenue.

The change stemmed from a recent proposal by several businesses to make some alterations in arcade businesses that city planners did not see as compatible with the architectural style the city is trying to preserve.

City Atty. Monte I. Widders described the guidelines as “expressions of council’s general feeling on these matters, not a matter of law.”