Transit Panel OKs $335,000 for Ventura River Trail : Funding: County commission’s vote on bike path upsets Thousand Oaks officials, who sought the money for a similar project.

Ventura was the surprise winner Friday and Thousand Oaks a loser in a funding derby that pitted numerous transportation projects across the county against one another.

County transportation officials awarded $335,000 first earmarked for an east county bike trail to a similar project along the Ventura River.

The decision came on a 4-3 vote as the Ventura County Transportation Commission wrestled with how to divvy up $1.7 million in federal transit funds.

Commission administrators had recommended that Thousand Oaks receive the money to build a bike trail, but the seven-member panel disagreed.

“It’s surprising,” Ventura Councilman Gary Tuttle said of the turnabout. “I was really worried that the staff recommendation was going to kill our momentum on the project.”

Thousand Oaks officials were not so pleased.

“It’s unfortunate that there is a bias toward those cities that don’t have an abandoned rail line,” said Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall, who waited all morning to testify at the hearing.

The communities of Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Ventura all won funding for projects related to converting an abandoned rail line into a scenic or recreational corridor.

Set to receive the federal transit funds next spring, the Ventura County Transportation Commission had to decide Friday which of nine local applications should be supported. This could be the last year the funds are available, officials said.

Executive Director Ginger Gherardi recommended that the Ventura River Bike Trail project not receive any of the funds, in part, she said, because the city has already received a great deal of outside support. The California Transportation Commission awarded the project $750,000 earlier this week.

Thousand Oaks, Gherardi said, has not received its fair share of federal transportation dollars over the last five years.

But some commissioners questioned why construction of the Thousand Oaks trail, which would connect The Oaks mall to the Janss Marketplace, has not begun, because the panel awarded the same proposal $125,000 six years ago.

Brimhall said the city has succeeded in acquiring most of the needed property, but that some landowners have slowed the process.

Based on what she said was a lengthy and thorough review, Gherardi and her staff recommended that six of the nine applications receive between $253,000 and $350,000 apiece.

In order of priority, the projects approved by the commission Friday are:

* $300,000 for a gateway to the city of Moorpark, which would be built at the intersection of California 118 and Collins Drive, near Moorpark College. It would include a “Welcome to Moorpark” sign.

* $311,000 for restoring the Santa Paula railroad depot on 10th Street, where local officials want to expand recreational and excursion railway services, upgrade the passenger platform and construct bike and foot trails.

* $350,000 to help purchase a 75-acre meadow along the California 33 entrance to Ojai city limits. Preserving the land as open space has been a top priority of local officials for years.

* $253,000 to move and rebuild the historic Fillmore Rail Depot, which would be installed near the new City Hall building and used as a rail terminal for the Short Line Railway, which operates excursion trains through the Santa Clara River Valley.

* $335,000 for the Ventura River Bike Trail, the long-planned project that would connect the Ojai Valley Trail, which ends at Foster Park, with the historic Omer Rains Trail that ends at downtown.

* $300,000 for the Rancho Camulos Historic Preservation Project, which would restore the Ygancio Ramon del Valle Adobe as well as build a public rest stop and bathrooms along California 126 east of Piru.

Applications that went unfunded include the proposed Thousand Oaks bike trail, a plan to build a scenic lookout along California 33 in the Los Padres National Forest, and the proposed restoration of the Corriganville Park movie ranch in Simi Valley.

Boosters for each of the proposals lobbied the commission for more than two hours Friday.

Some of the speakers urged commissioners to reject other proposals in favor of their own, a campaign tactic that did not sit well with at least one commissioner.

“Shame on you, folks,” said Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason. “We’re able to make evaluations without that sort of input.”