Potential East-Side Park Sites Cut to 6

Edging closer to creating a desperately needed park on Ventura’s east end, the City Council considered 14 sites and asked city staff to further analyze the top six to begin nailing down potential costs.

The City Council voted 5 to 0 Monday night to look at the following sites, in order of preference:

* One-hundred acres at Telephone and Kimball roads.

* Seventy-seven acres at the southeast corner of Telephone Road and Ramelli Avenue.

* Fifty-one acres at the southeast corner of Telephone and Kimball roads.

* Fifty-three acres at the southwest corner of Telegraph and Wells roads.

* Thirty-five acres north of Telephone Road and Cypress Point Drive.

* Eighty-seven acres at the northeast corner of Telegraph Road and Petit Avenue.

Councilmen Jim Friedman and Gary Tuttle abstained from voting because they own property within 2,500 feet of two of the original 14 sites under consideration.

The council must decide how much it wants to spend, and select a final site, said Jim Walker, the city’s manager of community affairs.

“Even with a best-case scenario, we are several years from realizing a park,” Walker said. “And that’s the extreme fast track.”

Ventura’s eastern communities of Thille, Montalvo, Serra, Juanamaria, Wells and Saticoy have a severe shortage of green, grassy play areas, according to the city.

The only large recreational park on the east end is 14-acre Fritz Huntsinger Park at Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue.

The city purchased 87 acres of lemon groves in 1987 at the northeast corner of Telegraph Road and Petit Avenue as a possible park site.

But in January, the council voiced concerns that the site was too remote and would require substantial grading.

Friedman said he hopes the city takes the path of least resistance and uses the land it already owns.

“It may not be the perfect location, but let’s face it, what in life is perfect. . . . Let’s get something sooner rather than later.”