City Weighs Plan to Press State for War Vets Home

With a compromise between veterans groups and Chumash tribe leaders in hand, the Ventura City Council will consider launching a full-court press on state officials tonight to bring a war veterans home to a site on the city’s east end.

Council members are being asked to sign a resolution that states their support for the home on a 22-acre parcel at the corner of Wells and Telephone roads.

Such a resolution would show that quarrels about the site have been resolved and the city is ready to move forward, said Mayor Jack Tingstrom. Chumash leaders had initially opposed placing the home on a spot that was once a tribal burial ground.

But an agreement between the land’s owners, veterans groups and Chumash leaders to build a monument to the Native Americans buried there has allayed that concern and cleared the way for the project, Tingstrom said.

“This says to the state that we want it here and we have a place to put it,” he said.

If approved, the resolution will be sent to members of a governor’s commission that is considering Ventura, among other cities, as the location for a $30-million veterans retirement home.

Staff is also recommending that Tingstrom and other council members attend a meeting of the commission in Ventura March 6 to personally pitch the site.

And the city should spend $7,000 to produce brochures and other informational materials touting the city’s charms, advised Everett Millais, director of community services, in a report to the council.

Newport developer Wittenberg-Livingston Inc. offered to donate the land to the state in return for permission to build 430 homes on the rest of its 62-acre site in east Ventura.

The area is already zoned for residential development, Tingstrom said.

“I think for what the facility is going to bring that it’s a good deal,” he said.

State officials estimate that the 400-bed home for retired veterans could create up to 400 jobs and increase tourism as families come here to visit relatives. It would be built with state and federal dollars.

An earlier attempt to lure a veterans care facility to Ventura fell apart when Chumash leaders told state officials they opposed the move because the site is a sacred burial ground.

In the agreement worked out last June, five acres on the site will be set aside for a memorial to veterans and the Chumash, said LeRoy Andrews, a Ventura veteran who began the effort to bring a retirement home here four years ago.

It is important that the resolution be signed by all seven city council members to demonstrate to the state that the infighting has ended, Andrews said.

“Politically, it would just look good to the governor’s commission that we have a vote from this new council,” Andrews said, noting that two new members joined the council this year. “If there is not unanimous support, it won’t look too good.”

Chumash leaders are so happy about the proposed memorial that they plan to open the March 6 meeting by performing a Native American ceremony, Andrews said. About a dozen Chumash children in traditional dress will perform a welcome dance, he said.

The children will also present commission members with handmade gifts, Andrews said.

A retirement home for veterans is badly needed, he said. The nearest facility, set to open in Barstow this week, is already filled and has a waiting list with 1,300 names, Andrews said.

There are an estimated 600,000 veterans in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, he said.