Port Hueneme Land-Use Policy

At 4 p.m. on July 14, I received an urgent memo. The city of Port Hueneme planned to buy the property adjacent to my home for a trash truck and heavy equipment depot. The purchase contract was on the July 15 agenda. A slip of the tongue revealed that the city had been working on this for one year. Those of us most affected learned of it only through our association president’s sleuthing.

When I spoke, I read a letter that included the following: “While reviewing a recently published report on property values along the coast, we were disappointed to note that Port Hueneme has the poorest growth factor. Planning decisions like this proposed activity are detrimental to the interest of homeowners and will certainly not contribute to improving property values . . . . . “

Councilwoman Toni Young laughed out loud and said, “Thank you, Sondra, for adding humor by referring to our growth factor (ha, ha, ha). Thank you for adding lightness to this meeting.”

I was appalled at this humiliating attack to discount our serious concerns as being comical. Others who spoke in opposition were also treated rudely.

Scare tactics were used to present the garbage trucks as more desirable than other uses for that site. What could be less desirable than nine garbage trucks, heavy equipment for waste treatment and an assortment of trash bins? When asked about flies and mosquitoes, our public works director said that the sea breeze keeps Port Hueneme’s garbage trucks free of flies.

Twice recently--on the RV park issue and on the illegally imposed view tax--Surfside area homeowners have had to go to court to protect their property rights from their own city government. Both times the city lost. Is this retaliation?

SONDRA BRIGGS, Port Hueneme