Planners Reject Proposal to Build 227 Homes in Lemon Groves : Development: Builders say they can resolve commission’s concerns about 42-acre Ventura project.

Plans to build 227 tract homes in lemon groves in east Ventura have been shot down by the Ventura Planning Commission, but developers are confident that concerns about their project can be resolved.

Beazer Homes of Sylmar was seeking approval of a single-family residential subdivision on 42 acres at the southwest corner of Kimball and Telegraph roads at the Planning Commission meeting Tuesday night.

But after listening to residents and a school official complain that the project would result in crowded classrooms and increased traffic, planning commissioners told the developer to craft a more acceptable proposal.

“I, for one, could not vote for approval of this project,” Commissioner Ted Temple told an audience of about 20 residents Tuesday night. “We are converting ag land.”

Besides being concerned about traffic and school crowding, commissioners said the subdivision did not meet the city’s design standards, which call for pedestrian paths and ample space between houses.

Undeterred by the commission’s negative vote, a Beazer representative said Wednesday that the development company plans to revise the proposal and come back to the panel in a few months.

“Planning Commission hearings don’t typically get approval on the first go-around,” said Tom Dee, a Beazer vice president. “I didn’t see it as a denial.”

The rectangular lot planted with lemons has already been zoned for residential development, and the housing subdivision has been in the planning stages for more than a year.

The City Council awarded Beazer an allocation of 227 housing units in May, 1994, contingent upon a development agreement. Four months ago, the city’s subdivision committee recommended that the project be approved.

But planning commissioners put the brakes on Beazer’s proposal Tuesday night, saying the development would not benefit the community.

“I have to do two things--vote my conscience and support my City Council,” Temple said. “They allocated this project, but I wonder if Ventura is going to be a better place if we approve it.”

Commissioner Ingrid Elsel agreed, saying she could not in good conscience approve the proposal.

Then, Commissioners Chuck Thomas, Sandy E. Smith and Al Okuma jumped into the discussion to say they also had problems with the project.

Thomas said he has disliked the proposed subdivision since the council granted a number of housing allocations in 1994.

“I thought at the time this was typical auto-generated development that has taken over Southern California,” he said during the meeting. “It just doesn’t bring a benefit to the city of Ventura.”

The commission agreed to delay a final vote on the proposal until early next year, telling the developer to come back in January with a plan that would be “more acceptable and advantageous to the city of Ventura.”

Dee said Wednesday that the concerns of the commission and the community can be worked out and that he is certain the project eventually will be approved.

“The project will go through,” Dee said Wednesday. “It has comprehensive plan zoning. It has allocations.”

After the meeting Tuesday, Smith said some of the problems with the proposal could have been worked out if city planners and the developers would have worked with the commission.

“I think we are trying to send a message, that projects of this size . . . need more involvement with the Planning Commission,” Smith said.