VENTURA : Council Delays Vote on Downtown Shift

The Ventura City Council has delayed voting on whether to stretch the downtown boundaries to include the Ventura Avenue area, a plan that would help fast-track a development of 330 townhouses in western Ventura.

The council was scheduled to vote on the plan Monday, but officials decided to postpone debate for two weeks because many residents signed up to speak on a development proposal of the Peirano building, which was scheduled ahead of the boundary debate.

Some council members want to expand the boundaries of downtown more than 20 blocks north of West Park Row Avenue to Delaware Drive, a move that would allow developers in the upper Avenue area to immediately apply for and receive 330 housing units.

Other developers outside the downtown and Avenue areas must wait until April to apply and compete for more limited allocations. Developers must receive housing allocations before being allowed to build.

But a majority of the council members say housing in downtown is more important than putting housing in the Avenue and are worried the proposal would draw housing allocations away from downtown.

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

The trio is interested in building business offices and 330 townhouses in the city’s old industrial sector.