VENTURA : Veterans Back Use of Greenbelt Parcel

A veterans group has endorsed a greenbelt property as its preferred site for a veterans nursing home, possibly dooming Ventura’s chances at securing the state project, Mayor Tom Buford said.

The 400-bed facility, which would be paid for with state and federal funds, could bring up to 400 jobs to Ventura, city officials said.

The city lost a bid for a nursing home in an earlier round of decisions by a state task force. Members of the state panel, upon hearing competing proposals from the city and a developer, said Ventura was too internally divided for the state to invest money in a facility there.

The city’s proposal would have put the home on 22 acres in east Ventura, but a local Chumash group told the task force that they oppose building there because it is near a Chumash burial ground.

The other proposal was from local developer Rudy Contreras, who wanted to put the home on his land on Olivas Park Drive, just outside the city limits. The city opposes that site because it is zoned for agricultural use.

Local war veterans, who earlier backed the city’s choice, voted 12 to 4 this week to support the Olivas Park site.

Al Sanderlin, the local post commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said county veterans shied away from endorsing the city site in part because Chumash opposition made the location too controversial. He said the Contreras site, on the other hand, is in a safer area and closer to the ocean.