Plan for Downtown Ventura Draws Debate : Council: Panel considers late into the evening a renovation plan for the area. About 60 residents and business owners attend the session.

Dozens of residents and business owners turned out at the Ventura City Council meeting Monday night to debate a long-term plan to revamp the city’s downtown, once the cultural and commercial hub of the county.

City Council members considered late into the evening whether to approve the Downtown Specific Plan, a proposed policy and regulatory document that details how the city would renovate the area.

“I think it’s fairly ambitious,” Pat Richardson, a city planner, said prior to the meeting that drew about 60 people. “Hopefully, it will bring back some of the past glory when there was a thriving downtown.”

The plan would increase retail businesses and add more condominiums and apartments. It calls for imposing strict design standards on new buildings, requiring architecture to be compatible with the Victorian, Art Deco, mission or California bungalow styles prevalent in the area.

Streets would also be spruced up with landscaping and public art to help attract tourists. Historical landmarks such as City Hall and San Buenaventura Mission would be promoted. The California Street bridge would be revamped and the continuing restoration of Ventura Pier would be finished.

Some downtown business owners are vehemently against the proposal, saying they would be forced by the city’s plans to put housing in areas now zoned for commercial use.

Paul Nielson, owner of Waveline Surf Shop on Thompson Boulevard, criticized the plan because he said it lacks incentives needed to attract large businesses and industries to the area.

“Why would people move to the downtown?” he said. “There’s no jobs in the downtown.”

Other merchants support the plan, arguing it would draw more visitors to the area and boost their faltering businesses.

At its height in the 1940s, the area drew thousands of visitors from around the county. Hundreds of attorneys and businessmen had offices in the area to be near the old county government center on Poli Street.

During the 1950s, businesses began moving out of the area to cheaper available land in the eastern section of the city.