Council May Work With School Board

After repeated urgings by Councilman Steve Bennett and a plea from a member of the school board, the Ventura City Council has agreed to examine whether to consider school crowding when planning development.

The council asked city staff members to report back by Aug. 4 with wording for a possible amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, Ventura’s blueprint for development.

John Walker, a member of the Ventura Unified School District board, told the council Monday night that the district wants to be included in the planning process.

Bennett raised the issue in February after the City Council and school board pledged to work together to solve Ventura’s crowding problems.

He suggested then that the city amend its master plan for growth to take into account school capacity.

But council members rejected the idea, saying it could jeopardize any chance of passing an $81-million school bond to build two elementary schools, one middle school and a magnet high school to accommodate an additional 3,500 students by 2010.

Now that the city has passed the school bond, Walker told the council, amending the comprehensive plan is “the next logical step.”

Council members Rosa Lee Measures and Jim Monahan questioned whether the city should spend the time and money to amend the Comprehensive Plan now when it will probably have to be completely redone within the next two years.

But Walker told the council that proposed legislation in Sacramento, which could be enacted as early as this fall, could end a school district’s role in city planning.

He said he wants an additional safeguard in place before then. That could be done by amending the city’s Comprehensive Plan, he said.