VENTURA : City May Rezone Industrial Area

Long-delayed plans to rezone 58 acres along North Ventura Avenue will be considered tonight by the Ventura City Council, but one council member plans to recommend a compromise.

Three major property owners will ask the council to rezone the industrial tract at Ventura and Stanley avenues for homes and businesses.

But a number of nearby merchants have complained that houses should not be allowed so close to their businesses, most of which are noisy, 24-hour operations.

Under a recommendation by city staff, the acreage owned by Kinko’s Corp. and the Neel and Huntsinger family trusts would be rezoned to allow for more than 100 new homes and businesses.

Kinko’s officials say they need room for an additional 60,000 to 100,000 square feet of office space. The Huntsinger and Neel families said the plan would pump millions of dollars into the poorest neighborhood in Ventura.

But a group calling itself Citizens to Preserve Industry has fought the proposal for more than a year, arguing that they could eventually be forced out by homeowners complaining about noise.

Last month, the landowners agreed to delay council consideration of the application until they could meet with the business owners. But the two sides have not reached a compromise.

Councilman Jim Monahan, however, who owns a business on Ventura Avenue, said he would recommend that the land be rezoned only for commercial use.

“That would create an environment that would upgrade the area surrounding Kinko’s,” Monahan said.