Assistance Cut for Ventura Blvd. Panel

The number of hours city planning staff can devote to helping a citizens panel oversee implementation of a master plan to tame unruly growth and ease traffic along Ventura Boulevard will be cut in half effective July 1, a city official said Wednesday.

Due to budget cuts, staff from the Planning Department will be limited to providing a combined 1,000 hours per year--down from 2,000 per year--to assisting the 13-member Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board. The reduction amounts to replacing a full-time city staff person with a half-time staffer.

“We’ve got fewer people to do the same amount of work,” said Melanie Fallon, deputy planning director. “We’re not saving any money, we’re just re-assigning these people.”

Fallon said she is working with officials from the Department of Transportation in hopes that that agency will be able to provide some level of support that may soften the impact of the cuts.

Board members said the reduction may result in a shortage of technical advice crucial to implementing the 2-year-old plan.

“We’re concerned about it,” said Ken Bernstein, president of the board. “We’re concerned it will hinder our efforts to implement some of the very exciting projects we’re working on.”

Bernstein said that although he understands the city is facing tough fiscal times, “it’s a shame that the development of the most important commercial boulevard doesn’t get more than half of one person’s time.”