Plan to Build Homes on Ventura Lemon Orchards Is Debated : Development: Several council members support construction of 377 dwellings, despite concerns that agricultural land will be lost.

The City Council debated late Monday night whether to allow construction of 377 single-family homes on a pair of lemon orchards in the eastern end of the city.

Los Angeles-based Weston Co. Ltd. wants to build three- and four-bedroom homes on two separate citrus groves located near the junction of the Santa Paula and Ventura freeways.

The projects would straddle an existing development of 220 condominiums and 272 apartments built by the same developer during the mid-1980s.

Several council members said before the meeting that they supported the proposed development, but Councilman Gary Tuttle said the twin projects take the focus away from the need for housing in downtown Ventura while paving over precious agricultural land.

“We are losing more and more orchards,” Tuttle said in an interview before the meeting. “They make it sound like it is a little piece of property surrounded by houses. This is major acreage.”

But other council members said the Weston project is well-suited to the surrounding area, filling two relatively small pockets of land with housing that is badly needed. Each development will cover 27 acres.

“It finishes out a project we started years ago,” Councilman Jack Tingstrom said before Monday’s meeting. “We need that type of housing.”

Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures agreed, saying: “This is an ideal development to meet the residential demand of our community.”

The 1,300- to 1,800-square-foot homes, which Tingstrom said are expected to cost about $165,000 each, would cater to first-time buyers and fulfill a longstanding housing need, city planner Mitch Oshinsky said.

“This housing is entry-level, first-time-buyer housing and all the information we have is that that is one of the more critical housing needs,” he said.

Council members haggled over terms of a development agreement with Weston during the meeting. Under a proposed agreement, the developer would pay the city $2,500 for 278 of the homes to be built.

City officials would use that money--expected to total nearly $700,000--to help pay for a $1-million elevated footbridge across California 126. The city has already secured $400,000 in grant money.

Weston plans to add 197 homes to its existing condominium development north of Thille Street and west of Portola Road, and build 180 new homes east of condominiums in the area of Thille Street and Saratoga Avenue.