Panel May Lift 3-Year Hiatus for Developers : Growth: The Ventura City Council is expected to allow construction of more housing. Drought concerns had halted building.

The Ventura City Council today will consider opening the door to large-scale development, although few builders are expected to rush through.

After three years of forbidding any residential construction because of drought concerns, a majority of the council is expected to allow 500 housing units to be built in the downtown area immediately.

In addition, approval is expected for 193 more housing units elsewhere in the city each year until the year 2000. A unit is a single-family home or an apartment.

The end of the drought, construction of two new wells, and the council’s decision to build a desalination plant have given the city enough water to accommodate new residents, city officials said. The city’s population of about 96,000 would grow to about 109,000 by the year 2000.

“Growth has been on hold,” Councilman Jim Monahan said. “It’s time that we get some projects going.”

The council last month allowed developers of nine residential projects to apply for building permits. Those projects, amounting to 108 units, were delayed when the city adopted a moratorium on water hookups in 1990.

If the council gives permission for more units tonight, builders will be able to apply for housing allocations as soon as Tuesday, said Pat Richardson, a senior planner for the city.

“It will be on a first-come, first-serve basis,” Richardson said. No developer will be allowed to apply for more than 100 units in the downtown area, he said.

Developers will have until July 30 to apply for this year’s allocation, he said. After securing a housing allocation, a builder becomes eligible to turn in a project proposal to the city, which must later be approved by the Planning Commission.

Even if given the opportunity, however, Richardson said he doesn’t think developers will be lining up to build.

“With the housing market right now, I doubt there will be tremendous demand,” Richardson said.

Steven Perlman, a consultant who represents developers, agreed that the council’s expected action will not throw open the floodgates to massive growth.

“People have not been clamoring,” Perlman said. “You’re not going to build and open for sale hundreds of homes in the city, not in this market.”

What’s more, he said, the housing in question is “a very, very small amount.”

“Under the circumstances, it’s the best we can hope for,” he said. “Obviously most developers would like to see it opened up.”

Councilman Gary Tuttle said he opposes the plan to permit 193 units a year outside the downtown area, contending it may lead to unchecked growth on the city’s east end.

“I’m not happy with it, no,” said Tuttle, who was elected on a slow-growth platform.

Tuttle said he wants to see growth concentrated in the downtown area as a redevelopment tool, and would prefer to see 1,000 housing units allowed there instead of 500.

“I think it was a token allocation to the downtown,” he said, “and I think it’s back to business as usual in the 1980s, when it was out-of-control east-end sprawl.”

He also expressed concerns about whether the city’s water supply is adequate.

Councilman Jim Monahan, however, said water has been used as an excuse by opponents of growth.

When the council cited drought as the reason for a moratorium on water hookups in 1990, Monahan was the only council member to vote against the measure.

“We had enough water back then,” Monahan said last week. “We had a drought, and if it had continued, we would have run out of water. It didn’t. We were very fortunate.”