VENTURA : City Pushes for Keys Dredging Settlement

Ventura city officials are scheduled to hold a town hall meeting tonight in an effort to persuade Ventura Keys homeowners to settle lawsuits against the city over dredging bills.

The meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura.

Ventura Keys residents have fought the city for years over who should pay for removing the silt and debris that builds up in their back-yard canals connected to the Ventura Harbor. A group of Keys property owners lost a lawsuit last year that challenged the city’s authority to assess homeowners extra taxes to pay for dredging their canals.

Under a settlement proposal, city officials want Keys homeowners to drop other pending lawsuits that contend the city and county governments and the Ventura Port District are responsible for polluting the Keys and should pay the cleanup bills.

In September, the city, along with county and Port District officials, circulated a settlement proposal negotiated between city leaders and two representatives of Keys residents.

But a majority of the Keys homeowners failed to meet the deadline to reject or approve the proposed settlement.

Councilman Gregory L. Carson and Keys negotiators have since reworked the settlement proposal and sent out a revised document Saturday. The new settlement proposal, which must be ratified by March 5, clarifies some points, but is not significantly different from the original document.

The proposal would reduce dredging fees assessed per household from $1,733 a year to $685. After that, the city could increase the annual tax by $64 a year.

Although some residents applaud the reduced fees, others balk at the condition not to sue over future pollution of their back-yard canals.

Carson said that this may be the last settlement offer. “This is pretty much it,” Carson said. “This is yes or no, or do you want to go to court?”