VENTURA : Residents Meet With Mayor on Mall Plan

A group of about 40 residents who live near the Buenaventura Mall met with Ventura Mayor Tom Buford to request that the city install pedestrian bridges over streets and keep parking structures away from homes if a proposal to double the size of the mall is approved.

Calling themselves “Venturans By Design,” the group has submitted a list of 15 suggestions regarding the mall and demanded that Buford respond within 30 days. Most of the suggestions concern noise, traffic and architectural issues.

At the meeting Tuesday, Buford told residents he would respond to their concerns within a month. But he warned them that he would not jeopardize negotiations with mall developer MaceRich Co., which is based in Santa Monica.

In January, city officials began preliminary negotiations with MaceRich executives to write a development agreement stipulating that the city expects MaceRich to find ways to minimize additional traffic, noise and other impacts from the proposed expansion.

Buford assured residents that the proposed mall expansion would not be rushed through the city’s permitting process, and would be carefully reviewed by many residents and city officials.

A study of the environmental impacts estimates that the expanded mall would attract more than 14,000 additional cars to the area every day, causing traffic and pollution problems.

Under the proposal, three department stores would be added to the two large stores already at the site. A second floor of shops would be added, as well as two multilevel parking structures.

Residents’ suggestions included proposals to widen Mills Road and Dean Drive, close off Ocean and Central avenues, build two pedestrian bridges over Mills Road and move parking garages away from residential areas.

The group has hired former Mayor Richard Francis, a civil litigation attorney, to be its spokesman. Coincidentally, Francis and Buford share office space, but own separate legal practices.