OJAI : Sewer Project Work to Halt for Weekend

A weeklong sewer project that shut down two blocks of Ojai Avenue, snarling traffic and driving away customers of downtown merchants, will be suspended for the Memorial Day weekend, officials with the city and sanitary district said.

Ojai Avenue should reopen to traffic from Ventura to Montgomery streets by late today or tonight, said W. S. Moore, Ojai’s director of public works.

To replace a 230-foot section of a 67-year-old sewer line that runs through the intersection of Ojai Avenue and Signal Street, the project’s contractor had to close a portion of both streets and detour traffic around the heart of Ojai’s commercial area.

Construction on Signal Street probably won’t be completed until Wednesday, but to accommodate Memorial Day traffic the contractor plans to open the road for the weekend, Moore said.

“This is the most significant excavation in terms of traffic disruption,” said Eric Oltmann, general manager of the Ojai Valley Sanitary District. “It really has clogged the town very badly.”

The sewer excavation is part of the Ojai Valley Sanitation District’s $6.5-million sewer replacement project that started in August and is expected to be completed next month.

The closure and excavation of Ojai Avenue and Signal Street have virtually halted business for some downtown merchants.

“It’s just terrible,” said Bette Ober, owner of Pink Moment Sweets. “I keep thinking the sewers will be worth it, but I don’t know.”

Monday, the first day of the street closures, Ober had only four customers in her Signal Street chocolate shop. “I might as well have closed,” she said.

Even the colored balloons she put in front of her store to attract people walking past the barricaded street were not enough to lure shoppers past the tractors and heavy equipment.

“Gem Quest has a 20% off construction sale sign in the window,” Ober said of the neighboring jewelry store. “But who can see it?”

Meg Easling, owner of Gem Quest, said business is so slow she started joking about ways to attract customers. “We were going to start a rumor that there was a gem find in the middle of the street.”

Easling said her sales have dropped 50% during the week’s sewer construction. “But our sewer was bad,” she acknowledged. “It needed to be done.”

Ruben’s restaurant manager, Chris Patino, said the tiny restaurant has also been adversely affected during the road closure.

“We’ve been loosing $200 a day,” Patino said. “I haven’t made a complaint, but they should have been working at night (instead of) the daytime.”

Dorfman Construction received only four complaints this week, said Maurya Foy, project coordinator for the contractor. All were from business owners.

“Everyone’s been real cooperative,” she said. “(But) I’m sure they would rather we’re not out there working.”