Committee Picks Items to Spruce Up Downtown : Ventura: Council panel hammers out such details as colors and trees. The city has allocated at least $2.3 million for the revitalization.

After years of talk about sprucing up downtown Ventura, the pace of revitalization picked up Wednesday as city leaders decided such nitty-gritty details as the trees, bus benches, lampposts and landscaping that will change the district’s look dramatically.

The face lift of the city’s old commercial center, which will start to take shape this summer, will target Main, Figueroa and California streets first, as well as the Amtrak train station near the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

But long-term plans call for the entire downtown to be changed in the coming years.

After a drought-related moratorium that restricted building and a recession that put an extra brake on economic activity, city officials say they are thrilled that the pace of downtown revitalization is picking up.

“We’re finally doing it,” Community Development Director Everett Millais said.

One of the most visible signs of activity is the two-story, 30,000-square-foot courthouse under construction for the 2nd District Court of Appeal at Figueroa and Santa Clara streets.

By the end of June, Main Street will have new trees, bus benches and street signs. And this summer, a new restaurant and shops are planned at the foot of California Street.

The City Council has allocated at least $2.3 million through 1998 for the area, and members consider the project a top priority. In recent months, developers have also been coming forward with proposals for building restaurants, offices and housing downtown.

A City Council subcommittee Wednesday approved yanking out New Zealand Christmas trees that line Main Street and planting palm trees. The faded wooden beams that provide shade for Main Street crosswalks will be knocked down and replaced by planters filled with flowers. Bus benches with peeling paint will give way to concrete benches with a terra-cotta finish.

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Other cosmetic changes on Main Street between Fir and Figueroa streets include junking the plain aluminum trash cans and replacing them with receptacles finished in terra cotta, to match the bus benches. Dark green signs with a logo of San Buenaventura Mission will replace the drab brown street signs on Main Street, and signals and lampposts will be painted dark green to match.

On Figueroa Street between Santa Clara Street and the Ventura Freeway, curbs, gutters and asphalt will be ripped up and redesigned. Figueroa will be narrowed, and sidewalks will be decorated with black, Victorian-style lampposts.

Only a few trees line Figueroa, and they will be uprooted and replaced by a row of 20-foot palm trees on both sides of the street. The area will have a Victorian-style theme to complement the new courthouse.

At the Amtrak station, two shade structures will be added as well as an information kiosk, and about 25 palm trees will be planted.

California Street will be redesigned in the spring, and construction there is scheduled for December. A 10,000-square-foot plaza near the Holiday Inn will be refurbished, and new palm trees will line the street from City Hall to the ocean.

City leaders said they are happy to be completing details on a long-awaited dream.

On Wednesday, council members Gregory L. Carson, Gary Tuttle and Rosa Lee Measures examined pictures of different types of palm trees, leafed through catalogues looking for new bus benches and debated the merits of various flowers.

“Why ivy geraniums for the planters?” Carson asked city staff. “They look good for a few years, but then they start looking crummy.”

Carson, who owns a nursery, guided most of the discussion on palm trees and geraniums. He persuaded Tuttle and Measures to approve Cocus plumosa , or Queen palm trees, for California Street instead of Washingtonia robustus , or Mexican fan palm trees. He and Measures recommended drought-resistant plants instead of ivy geraniums for planters.

“It’s like planning and building a house, and you finally get to choose what color to paint it,” Carson said after the meeting.

City officials say the faster pace of revitalization is possible because of the council’s approval in July of a Downtown Specific Plan, a regulatory document that outlines a strategy for revamping the area.

“In the last three to five years, nothing was going on in downtown,” said Pat Richardson, project manager. “Up to now, we couldn’t do anything because there wasn’t a direction for what to do.”

Revitalizing downtown will be one of the most ambitious endeavors the city has undertaken. In its golden era during the 1940s, the downtown attracted thousands of residents throughout the county to theaters, businesses and restaurants.

Now it is home to secondhand furniture outlets, thrift stores and budget motels. It has one of the highest concentrations of homeless people in the city, and police say a handful of prostitutes frequent the area.

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City officials say they plan to increase police foot patrols to discourage panhandling and crime.

Several high-profile downtown projects are expected to start soon:

* A restaurant and retail operation is planned at the end of California Street, on the beach Promenade. The council this week approved a 10-year lease with three local businessmen who hope to have a restaurant and shops ready this summer.

* The fate of the city-owned Peirano Building, a historic landmark across from the mission on Main Street, will be decided soon. A developer wants to build a courtyard, restaurant and shops there, while art activists want a municipal gallery. Next week, the council is scheduled to choose between the proposals.

* A development at the northwest corner of Thompson Boulevard and Figueroa Street, near the courthouse. In two weeks, a council subcommittee is scheduled to choose between an office or condominium project for the vacant lot.