VENTURA : Zoning Changes OKd for New-Home Plans

The Ventura City Council has approved zoning changes that will allow a Los Angeles-based developer to build 377 single-family homes on two lemon orchards in the east end of the city.

Council members stopped short, however, of approving a development agreement with Weston Co. Ltd. that is needed before construction can begin. The council wrangled over terms of the agreement for two hours Monday night before voting 6 to 1 to send the document back to city staff with changes. Councilman Stephen Bennett dissented, saying he was opposed to the project.

A rewritten contract will come back to the council in a few weeks, city officials said. Once the language of the agreement is changed, city officials and Weston representatives expect the project to be approved.

“They have approved everything in concept,” said Thousand Oaks attorney Charles Cohen, who addressed the council Monday on behalf of the developer. “They want to see a final draft.”

The council voted 5 to 2 to approve zoning changes for Weston’s two properties, which are located south of the Santa Paula Freeway. Councilmen Bennett and Gary Tuttle voted against the proposal because it would eliminate 54 acres of lemon trees. “I think it will be a terrible loss,” Tuttle said.

Each of the 27-acre projects, described as West Ranch and East Ranch, would be built on lemon groves that surround an existing condominium development, Weston Village, built by the developer a decade ago.

City officials said the twin projects would fulfill a critical need for housing that is affordable for first-time buyers.

Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures urged the council to act swiftly before the housing market changes. She also stressed that the proposed developments do not cut into outlying agricultural land. “This is not a greenbelt,” she said.

Among the revisions to the development agreement, council members decided not to link $2,500 the developer has agreed to pay on each of 278 homes to a $1-million footbridge project proposed to stretch over California 126.

The city still plans to use the $695,000 it expects to receive from the developer for the highway overcrossing, but will not stipulate it in the contract.

If the revised development agreement is approved in a few weeks, construction of the homes would likely begin by the start of the year, Weston representatives said. Ranging in size from 1,300 to 1,800 square feet, the homes would be priced from $165,000 to $200,000.