Camarillo City Council Acts on Offramp Financing

Despite requests from numerous property owners to delay imposing sharp fees for a long-planned freeway ramp, the Camarillo City Council has agreed to form a special district to pay for the $5.3-million project.

The unanimous decision came after several property owners within the boundaries of the proposed 700-acre district off Lewis Road complained that the city was charging too much.

“It’s a good thing,” Camarillo architect Mark Pittman said about the offramp. “But the methodology and means used to distribute the costs, we don’t think are fair.”

Pittman was among half a dozen speakers who urged the council Wednesday to postpone forming the assessment district, which would tax the owners of 206 parcels the cost of building the offramp.

But council members said the project has been planned for years and to delay the offramp would jeopardize future development. What’s more, the city agreed to chip in $500,000 toward the cost, council members said.

“This is something that has been in the planning process for years,” Mayor David M. Smith said. “This improvement district is the best method we can find to finance the improvements.”

Public works officials said they planned to begin construction of the Ventura Freeway offramp at Flynn Road next fall. It would eventually replace the overused offramp at Dawson Drive.

The landowners, who can finance the tax over a 20-year period, will be assessed between $4,868 and $9,420 per acre based on how the land is zoned.