City Expected to Buy 3 Parcels for New Courthouse : Ventura: Officials say the $5.7-million project is a key part of their plans to revitalize the ailing downtown area.

The Ventura City Council is expected Monday to approve the purchase of three parcels of land in downtown Ventura to build a 30,000-square-foot Victorian-style courthouse for the state Court of Appeal.

The city plans to buy the parcels on Santa Clara Street from three private owners for about $670,000 and pay about $75,000 to relocate 11 people and two small businesses, said Miriam Mack, executive director of the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

After acquiring the land, city officials will help relocate the tenants, sell the land, plus a parking lot it already owns, for about $820,000 to an Orange County developer. Hall, Moore & Co. has agreed to raze the office building and bungalows on the land and build the courthouse at the southeast corner of Santa Clara and Figueroa streets.

In exchange for the property, the developer has agreed to lease the courthouse to the state appeals court for at least 15 years.

“Finally we’re doing it,” Mack said. City officials have planned the $5.7-million project for about two years, and consider it a key project in their plans to revitalize the ailing downtown sector by luring more employees to the area.

The courthouse for the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which will serve Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, is also expected to improve property values downtown and generate an additional $40,000 a year in property taxes, said Lawrence Moore, a partner in the development company.

“It’s been slow, which has been nerve-racking,” Moore said. “We were in the middle of negotiations with the state about the lease when the budget crisis hit.”

The state has signed a 15-year lease, and the building is large enough to allow the appeals court to expand its operations, Moore said.

“It really is exciting for us,” said Justice Steven J. Stone, the presiding judge of the Ventura appeal court. “We have no courtroom. We’re the only court in California that doesn’t have a courtroom.”

The two-story courthouse is scheduled to open in July, 1994, and will include one courtroom, plus offices for the three justices and about 45 employees. Now, the court rents cramped quarters in Ventura, one block south of the County Government Center.

The Victorian architectural style was selected for the new courthouse so it could match other buildings in the area, city officials said. The courthouse will be located across the street from three other Victorian-style houses refurbished as professional offices.

If the parcel owners do not sell willingly, the City Council must later decide whether to seize the land through its powers of eminent domain.

“We hope that won’t be necessary,” Mack said. “We’re hopeful that we will be able to negotiate settlements.”

City officials have met informally with the owners, and no one has voiced opposition yet, Mack said.

Eleven residential tenants and two businesses--a tax preparer and a public relations firm--will receive 90 days’ notice to vacate and then the city’s help in finding new homes and offices, she said.