Ojai Takes Wary Approach to Redevelopment

How do you redevelop a community that hates development?

“Very carefully,” said Alan Rains, 62, owner of the downtown department store of the same name that his grandfather founded in 1914.

Just don’t use the label revitalization around Rains to describe the $500,000 to $600,000 project being planned for the deteriorating and underused plaza area behind the city’s hallmark downtown arcade.

“I don’t like the term ‘revitalizing,’ ” he said. “A term I like better is ‘upgrading.’ Revitalization sounds like there is no energy--nothing happening here. It does work now. It can just work better.”

Rains’ attitude sums up the community’s prevailing view of redevelopment.

Unlike other Ventura County communities that have remade their downtowns,Ojai’s business core is not an economic basket case. Drastic government-sponsored street surgery to encourage private investment is neither required nor desired.

There is no need to rip up sidewalks and roads and spend millions of dollars on turn-of-the-century lamps and ornate benches that are in vogue elsewhere.

Downtown Ojai, with its reputation as a quaint mini-Carmel for Southern Californians fleeing urban sprawl, is already considered a vibrant destination with a unique ambience.

Of course, there is always room for improvement.

And the plaza represents Ojai’s attitude toward development in a microcosm.

The emphasis here is not on attracting thousands more people to join those who, many locals complain, already clog Ojai’s tiny two-block downtown core. Instead, Ojai officials simply want to make more efficient use of economic, social and recreational opportunities that already exist.

Indeed, redevelopment consultant Erik Justesen of San Luis Obispo is more inclined to call what he describes as a “gem of a project” a vitalization than a revitalization process.

“There are other towns that are going downhill and they need to pull out all the stops to turn it around,” he said. “Ojai is not in that situation . . . . They’ve been able to strike a very careful balance between maintaining and preserving the unique character of their community and striving for economic stability and strength in their downtown.”

The Arcade Plaza Renewal project is one of a handful of redevelopment efforts in Ojai. All are modest in scope, intended to complement rather than overhaul a small community most people are quite happy with.

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A development of 25 single-family homes aimed at providing low-income families with the opportunity to own houses is under discussion, said Tim Droney, chairman of the Redevelopment Commission.

The project, proposed by the nonprofit Cabrillo Economic Development Corp., is within walking distance of downtown.

And about $50,000 has been set aside in the community’s preliminary budget released last week for planning redevelopment efforts on the east end of Ojai Avenue beyond downtown.

The idea is to spend about $3 million to fix the 1950s-era infrastructure--by widening sidewalks, installing more storm drains and burying unsightly utility lines--to beautify the area and encourage private investment.

The area has several rundown and vacant buildings, such as a former bowling alley and restaurant that officials would prefer to see occupied and generating tax revenue once more.

Moreover, part of Ojai Avenue’s east end is a residential neighborhood that was rezoned in July to allow more shops and restaurants--an effort to promote Ojai’s village philosophy, that people should be able to live and work in the same area.

The eventual goal is to stretch the downtown to encompass the area to the east, taking pressure off the heavily used retail core.

“It won’t be easy,” conceded City Manager Andy Belknap. “This being Ojai, everything will be scrutinized. There’s already a vigorous debate about the appropriateness of potentially turning the bowling alley into a drugstore.”

Change Rejected

The debate has its roots in a community that decades ago turned its back on the typical suburban American model of development. The city fought one development proposal all the way to the state Supreme Court.

Village-style planning is embraced today by so-called neo-traditionalists as the ideal way of creating a livable community. Ojai’s evolution, however, occurred not because of a conscious effort, but because the city’s independent-minded residents simply rejected change, Belknap said.

Redevelopment in Ojai hasn’t meant creating shiny new street scapes as in downtown Ventura or Santa Paula. The downtown looks remarkably similar to that created 80 years ago when town benefactor Edward Libbey erected the famous shopping arcade, post office and other buildings.

And if some Ojai residents get their way, by this summer the downtown will take another step back in time. The pergola, a covered walkway torn down because it became a haven for hippies almost 30 years ago, is expected to rise again across from the arcade, thanks to a private fund-raising effort.

The growth-conscious community has largely embraced redevelopment as a tool to forestall new development.

“Redevelopment is distinct from development,” insists Tom Bostrum, a member of the city’s seven-member Redevelopment Commission. “I think there’s a consensus that we absolutely want to keep as much as we can of what’s here. Any kind of intrusive redevelopment plan would be pretty much opposed by everyone here.”

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When the city formed its Redevelopment Agency in 1972, it was among the first in the county, Belknap said.

The agency’s first stated objective: to preserve and enhance the historic downtown area as the economic, cultural and social core of Ojai.

Its largest project: a $2-million renovation of the arcade completed in 1990.

“The town tends to be conservative when it comes to making changes, period, and is skeptical about changes to the downtown,” Belknap said. “There are certain elements you just do not mess with. You’re not going to change the historical fabric of the downtown.”

Among its first projects was the sale of $650,000 in bonds to finance burying downtown utility lines and transforming the Arcade Plaza from a muddy back alley to what it is today.

But the plaza today is still incomplete: a place with a few planters and patches of green that people walk through en route from a parking lot to the arcade. The strategy now is to turn it into the destination it was intended to be.

Pedestrian Friendly

It was planned, according to the original 1975 document, as part of a larger mall of plazas and walkways, fountains and benches to create a Spanish village atmosphere conducive to pedestrian-oriented browsing and buying.

“We realized the old plan has been overcome by events, and public sentiment was different than it was earlier,” Belknap said.

The updated version, as envisioned in a report released last week, calls for a low-key mix of places to sit, places to eat and places to stroll.

Like Ojai itself, the plaza is intended to be “tranquil, yet lively,” according to the consultant’s report. And it must become a more integral part of the city center, the “heart of downtown,” yet not overwhelm or detract from what already exists.

“What’s exciting for us is that they’re interested in a slightly broader view of not just a single space, but an integration of a space within the larger fabric of the city,” said Justesen, the redevelopment consultant. “It enables us to address some more challenging and difficult issues.”

Those include improving pedestrian access both to the plaza and surrounding streets and parking lots, connecting the often-ignored plaza to the rest of the community.

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Arcade store owners are generally supportive.

Instead of just one front door, some see the plaza renewal as an opportunity for them to have two.

“I’d have more exposure,” said Kathy Francis, owner of a women’s boutique, the Kindred Spirit. “Santa Barbara remodels things and makes them more consumer-friendly. Ojai needs to do that more.”

An anticipated six-month design process has just begun. A year from now, work may be ready to begin, Belknap said.

But redevelopment itself in Ojai will never end, he said.

“The idea is to actively manage a downtown area that is reasonably healthy,” he said. “At least in Ojai, redevelopment isn’t something that you do and you are finished with. It’s something that goes on and on . . . . You have to continually look at your public spaces and make sure they are working well.”

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About This Series

“Heart of the City: The Rebirth of Downtown” is an occasional series describing the efforts to revitalize the downtown shopping districts in Ventura County’s 10 cities. Today’s story focuses on Ojai, where most residents are content with the thriving downtown, and any steps toward redevelopment are approached with caution. Future stories will focus on renovation plans in other cities.