VENTURA : Council May Expand Redevelopment Zone

Moving toward declaring most of downtown blighted and in need of taxpayer-financed renewal, the Ventura City Council has agreed to study an expansion of its redevelopment zone.

The city’s current redevelopment area is bounded roughly by Palm Street on the east, the Ventura River on the west, the Southern Pacific railroad tracks on the south and Poli Street on the north.

But Ventura has spent most of the tax dollars generated by that zone, and city leaders remain dissatisfied with the look of downtown.

So the council may redraw the eastern and northern boundaries to bring in more money and open up more properties.

Land in redevelopment zones is deemed blighted and in urgent need of renewal.

The city can offer developers low-interest loans and reduce building fees in an effort to entice investment in redevelopment zones.

The new area the city will study extends to Crimea Street on the east and Church Street and West Park Row Avenue on the north.

City officials said that only a portion of the study area may actually end up being included in the expanded zone.

One local property owner told the council that she objected to the expansion because it would drive down the value of her property.

“I don’t know what kind of yardstick you use to call an area blighted,” said Virginia Gould, who owns a building on Main Street. “As soon as you put that label on there, property values go down.”