CITY MEASURES : View Tax and Beachfront Leases Among the Issues Facing Voters : Ballot: Santa Paula residents will weigh city clerk appointment. Venturans will consider reopening Poli Street.

View taxes, beachfront leases and the question of whether to elect or appoint a city official are among the issues that will be considered next week by voters in three Ventura County cities.

Although most of the attention has gone to a measure to reopen Poli Street near Ventura High School during school hours, there are three other measures on the ballot.

In general, Measure B in Santa Paula, Measure C in Port Hueneme and Measure D in Ventura are policy issues that council members said should or must be decided by voters.

Santa Paula residents will be asked whether they want the City Council to appoint the city clerk; Ventura voters will be asked whether to increase limits on waterfront leases of city property from 10 to 30 years, and Port Hueneme voters are being asked whether the city should amend its beach and park maintenance taxes.

The Port Hueneme measure, however, is not binding. Officials there said they want to know whether residents approve of the existing park and beach tax so the incoming council can decide whether to amend it.

The other two ballot measures require a majority vote to pass.

Early last year, the Santa Paula City Council named City Administrator Arnold Dowdy to the position of city clerk after elected City Clerk Stacey MacDonald left midterm for another job. By law, voters must approve giving the council the authority to appoint a city clerk.

“Everything the city clerk is required to do is specified by law,” Councilman John A. F. Melton said. “We can save some money and it’s already being done in-house. I’m for it.”

Dowdy said the duties add extra responsibility to his job as city administrator but added that he has done the work for almost two years.

“I think it makes sense from an administrative point of view to have the position appointed,” Dowdy said.

Ventura voters will decide whether the city’s charter should be changed to allow longer waterfront leases on city-owned property.

The lease issue arose when developer after developer hesitated to open a restaurant on the Ventura Pier because the city charter only permits a 10-year lease on beachfront properties.

When the lease expires, the contract is up for bid again and the renter has no legal advantage over other companies.

Restaurateurs say 20- to 50-year leases, which are more common in the industry, are necessary to allow a business to recoup its investment.

Eric Wachter, owner of Ventura’s Eric Ericcson’s Fish Co. and the restaurateur selected to open a business on the pier, has said that if the ballot measure does not pass, he wants a guarantee that Ventura will either renew his contract in 10 years or buy out his business.

The Ventura City Council voted early last summer to put the issue before voters, who must decide the measure because it calls for amending the city’s charter.

Voters will also decide on the much more publicized Measure E, which would reopen Poli Street to through traffic as it winds through Ventura High School. The city closed the street last year after the stabbing death of a Ventura High School student near the school.

*

In Port Hueneme, an advisory measure queries voters on whether the city should change any of its park and beach maintenance taxes.

Measure C asks whether the city should adopt a citywide beach maintenance tax that would replace the existing so-called view tax.

As of now, the view tax, levied on property owners south of Hueneme Road, raises $157,500 a year that is spent maintaining the beach area. The tax, which ranges from $80 to $208 a year, is levied according to the parcels’ proximity to the beach.

In addition, the measure would poll voters on changing the park maintenance tax--which ranges from $37 to $51 a year and is based on the properties’ proximity to the city’s five parks--to a flat-rate levy. The current tax brings in about $300,000 annually.

“The city received a lot of written protests about both the park and beach assessment districts,” Councilman Dorill Wright said. “That’s why we decided to put it on the ballot.”

Some residents complained when the view tax was passed that everyone uses the beach and everyone should be responsible for its upkeep.

Times correspondent Jeff McDonald contributed to this report.