Earthquake: The Continuing Recovery : ‘We Learned Planning Is No Luxury’ : Public Places: The Ventura County town of Fillmore was ‘ready for disaster’ and lost few merchants, despite heavy damage.

As luck would have it, the very day the earthquake hit, the Fillmore City Council was scheduled to adopt a plan to guide the downtown back toward its turn-of-the-century roots. After the Jan. 17 temblor damaged or destroyed nearly three-quarters of Fillmore’s commercial buildings, the plan became a blueprint for rebuilding.

Fillmore is a vestige of early Southern California, nestled in orange groves, bounded by mountains and bisected by railroad tracks. Many of the town’s 13,000 residents go back several generations.

Plans for restoring the downtown began in 1989 with the purchase 13 acres from the Southern Pacific Railroad. After extensive community meetings, the town decided to build on its historic character with a new town square anchored by a civic building. After the quake, federal officials looked at the plan and were quick to award 76% of the $1.2 million for a new city hall, which will break ground in April and temporarily house displaced merchants now located in a tent and trailers while their buildings are replaced or retrofitted. The plan also helped the town secure a $450,000 historic preservation grant from the state to restore a movie theater built in 1915.

The railroad will continue to run through the middle of the town square and will provide future Metrolink service. Until then, the tracks are home to vintage rail cars used in movies.

TONY PEREZ

Fillmore city planner

After the earthquake, townspeople were very concerned that the old buildings would be razed and the historic character would go away. We said, “Don’t worry, we’ve got this plan.” In a crisis you need a plan to guide you because you’re moving so fast.

The city immediately adopted the plan’s design standards to give people a clear vision of how to rebuild. They hired a team to survey buildings and provided property owners with analysis of the cost of retrofitting versus new construction. The redevelopment agency helped with loans and up to $10,000 grants. Only a few merchants are going out of business.

The federal agency said, “This is great. You guys already have everything done.” So they approved funding and we could go right to implementation.

From the earthquake we learned that planning is not a luxury. We were ready for a disaster because we had a vision, and we’re on a quicker road to recovery.

DARRELL GARNER

Owner, Garners True Value Hardware

I’m tickled to death with the way things are going in town. People have started construction, the central market is almost finished and I’m starting Jan. 16. My building just had superficial damage, but the city passed an ordinance that we had to bring unreinforced masonry buildings up to code, so we moved into this tent. The Small Business Administration helped with a loan and the city helped with a grant, but it’s kind of hard when you have a building paid for and then you turn around and go in debt to get it back again. But most people that have a business in Fillmore are Fillmore-ites. We all live here. It’s an old-time community.

Public Places columnist Jane Spiller welcomes suggestions for places that are publicly accessible and free. Contact her c/o Voices.