VENTURA : Council to Consider Expanded Boundaries

In a proposal to help fast-track a development of 330 townhouses in western Ventura, the City Council today will consider a plan to significantly stretch the downtown boundaries to include the Ventura Avenue area.

A City Council subcommittee is recommending expanding the boundaries of downtown more than 20 blocks north of West Park Row Avenue to Delaware Drive, which would encompass the entire upper Avenue neighborhood.

But a majority of council members say they want downtown housing to be a priority over the Avenue and are worried that the committee’s proposal would siphon away housing allocations for downtown.

If approved, the new boundaries would permit developers in the upper Avenue area to immediately apply for and receive housing allocations. Developers must receive housing allocations before they are permitted to build. Developers outside the downtown and Avenue area must wait until April to apply and must compete against each other for limited allocations.

A proposal by the Neel and Huntsinger families of Ventura, along with the possible expansion of Kinko’s copy service’s headquarters, would dramatically change the character of the upper Avenue industrial neighborhood north of Stanley Avenue and west of Ventura Avenue. The proposed development would have 330 townhouses and business offices.

The housing committee is also recommending adding 200 housing units to the 500 units already allocated for the city’s downtown area. City leaders, who plan to revitalize downtown, want to encourage developers to build apartments and condominiums in the area.