OXNARD : Petitions Circulated to Reinstate Planners

The leaders of an initiative drive to reinstate the Oxnard Planning Commission, disbanded by the City Council in January for taking too long to make planning decisions, have begun circulating petitions throughout the city.

“People are really excited that this is finally happening,” said Jane Tolmach, mayor of Oxnard in the 1970s, who is spearheading the drive. “I’ve gotten calls from people I haven’t talked to since I was in office, wanting to take part.”

Organizers hope to place the issue before the city’s voters in November, 1996. To do so, they must gather the signatures of at least 10% of Oxnard’s 51,200 registered voters in the next five months.

Supporters of the drive say the city’s decision to replace the Planning Commission with a land use advisory committee was clearly made to allow more city business to be conducted behind closed doors.

But council members--with the exception of Mayor Manuel Lopez--say that is nonsense, arguing that the meetings will still be televised and the public will have the same opportunity to comment as before.

Tolmach said she began handing out the petitions, each with room for 10 signatures, last week to volunteers throughout Oxnard.

“It’s a really big variety of neighborhoods (taking part),” Tolmach said. “Most of them have contacted me. I also have a lot of friends who plan to circulate them.”

The petition seeks to re-establish the Planning Commission in its original form: seven members, all of them residents. The City Council reduced the panel from seven members to five last year before disbanding it in favor of the Land Use Advisors, which is composed of four residents and a city official.