County Hospital Wing, Weldon Dump Losing

Ventura County voters were rejecting a proposal for a new $56-million county hospital outpatient center late Tuesday--one of several ballot measures on issues ranging from a landfill in Ojai to future growth policies for Simi Valley.

In early returns, the proposal to build a 551-acre landfill in undeveloped Weldon Canyon was failing to win voter support. And in Ventura, a ballot measure aimed at banning city tax breaks for projects like the proposed Buenaventura Mall expansion was defeated.

Across the county in Simi Valley, voters overwhelmingly approved renewing the city’s decade-old growth control ordinance with a new provision that would limit the annual building permits issued to 544 for the next eight years.

Property tax measures that would raise money for libraries in Camarillo were falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, although two measures in the Ojai Valley were running slightly ahead of the margin needed for passage. In Piru, Measure W was failing by a narrow margin.

Ventura County voters, however, were strongly backing a statewide bond measure that would bring nearly $1 million for preliminary designs for a new Cal State campus near Camarillo. The measure, also winning statewide, would net millions for the county’s three community colleges as well as local schools.

The vote on the Ventura County Medical Center project, known as Measure X, came after a bitter campaign in which neighboring Community Memorial Hospital, fearing for its future, spent more than $1.3 million to convince county voters that the outpatient center was a financial risk.

Community Memorial Hospital Executive Director Michael Bakst said he was cautiously optimistic and made an early gesture at trying to mend relations with the county after the heated campaign.

“There has been enough acrimony and allegations made,” he said. “I’m willing to hold out the olive branch for us to jointly study the health care needs of Ventura County.”

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Former County Supervisor Madge Schaefer, a supporter of the county hospital project, refused to concede late Tuesday night.

“I think when you price out what was spent on the campaign per vote I think we have done very well,” she said.

Some voters who cast ballots against Measure X on Tuesday said they did so because they believed that the outpatient center was too costly and not needed.

“I think it will end up raising taxes and hurting other hospitals,” said Simi Valley resident Rose Mussi.

But others said they cast protest votes against Community Memorial because they were disgusted with the tenor of its campaign. One man said he changed his mind after it was disclosed that the hospital falsely used the names of elected officials and others in campaign ads.

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“I was going to vote no, but I voted yes after I read in the paper that they put the names of dead people in their advertisements,” said James Kean, also of Simi Valley.

The Weldon Canyon vote came after more than 10 years of legal and political wrangling over the proposed landfill, which would be built in a rugged canyon between Ventura and Ojai.

San Diego-based Taconic Resources, the sponsor of Measure T, urged voters to develop the Weldon Canyon dump to replace Bailard Landfill in Oxnard after it closes this summer.

Opponents of Measure T argued that a new west county landfill is not needed. But several Santa Paula voters said they supported Weldon Canyon as an alternative to expanding the Toland Road Landfill.

“I voted yes because it seems [people] want to send their garbage to Santa Paula,” said Bob Carrier.

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The vote against Measure S in Ventura climaxed a six-month battle over the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall. The measure targeted the $50-million project’s financing plan.

Buenaventura Mall owners have agreed to pay $12.6 million up front for public improvements, which would be repaid by the city’s share of increased tax revenue. Over 20 years, the city’s payback would total $32.3 million.

Measure S was aimed at prohibiting the city from engaging in future tax-sharing arrangements, a common practice among cities statewide.

But opponents said it would cripple the city’s ability to attract and secure new businesses, and single out Ventura as the only city in the state unable to offer such incentives.

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Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom said voters demonstrated their support for the mall expansion with their defeat of Measure S.

“They believe in us,” he said. “Everybody in this community rallied around this mall.”

The vote Tuesday would not have affected expansion plans at the Buenaventura Mall either way because the Ventura City Council voted for its approval after the measure was placed on the ballot. Opponents of the city’s tax-sharing agreement have been seeking to put another challenge to the mall on the ballot in a special election in July that would overturn the council’s action.

The three library measures in Camarillo, Ojai and Piru were aimed at raising new revenue to expand hours. All of the measures required a two-thirds majority vote.

Camarillo’s Measure P and Measure V in the nearby unincorporated area provided for the city to raise annual property taxes by $25. Piru’s Measure W proposed to increase property taxes by $35.

In the Ojai Valley, Measure R for the city of Ojai and Measure U for the nearby county areas provided for a $35 parcel tax to expand hours at the Ojai Library.