Resort Owner Meets Deadline to Remove Dirt at Beach

Facing possible criminal charges, contractor Tom Staben met a city-ordered deadline on Monday to remove dirt piled near the Ventura Beach RV Resort.

Yet Staben’s corporation, Ventura Beach RV Resort Inc., still faces criminal sanctions at a hearing next week for the alleged violation of a city code, Deputy City Atty. Karl Berger said.

Work crews spent the weekend clearing the huge mound of dirt that city code enforcement officials say Staben piled illegally at the entrance of Emma Wood State Beach, next to the 19-acre RV park where the Ventura River and Ventura Freeway cross.

The dirt was deposited on Staben’s land by heavy flooding in the Ventura River during last winter’s El Nino storms. The dirt was later moved to the property adjacent to the park.

If the city prevails in its action against Staben’s firm, the alleged violations could result in fines up to $5,000.

Furthermore, city officials say, the alleged violation occurred while the firm was under three years’ probation for violating city zoning restrictions last summer. The city will therefore seek a three-month extension of the probation, Berger said.

Staben’s attorney did not return a phone call Monday.

A hearing on the matter had been set this morning but was delayed until next week due to an attorney scheduling conflict.

The planned action is the latest setback for Staben, a longtime county flood-control contractor who is under investigation by the county district attorney, the FBI and a host of other federal and state agencies for suspected violations of environmental law.

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The probes include allegations that Staben dug out a sensitive swath of Ventura River bottom for material he needed to complete a county road repair project, as well as complaints that Staben has been illegally dumping on Somis farmland he owns along the banks of the Arroyo Simi.

The Ventura case follows a criminal code enforcement complaint filed by the city against Ventura Beach RV Resort Inc. last month.

City officials say Staben has owned the park for about three years. He purchased it after the original owner died and the estate fell into bankruptcy.

Even though the land sits within the Ventura River flood plain and despite considerable opposition, city officials and the California Coastal Commission issued permits allowing the park to be built in 1985.

Since then, it has been flooded several times, most notably in 1992 when the rain-swollen Ventura River destroyed or damaged 40 of the 57 motor homes parked at the site and washed one vehicle out to sea.

Last summer, Staben was warned by city code enforcement officials that he was violating half a dozen city codes. The alleged violations included converting a sensitive habitat area to a lawn, adding unauthorized campsites, erecting a concrete wall in the flood plain without the proper permits and pouring a concrete lining in a natural channel.

Staben’s firm eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of illegally storing 5,000 square feet of concrete construction blocks in an area visible from public streets, a violation of city code. That resulted in the three years’ probation.

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City Councilman Brian Brennan said he hopes the city’s action against Staben will send a message to him that mistreatment of the city’s environment will not be tolerated.

“I really hope Tom uses this as a flash point and says, ‘Time out,’ ” Brennan said.

Staben operates the park under a conditional-use permit issued when the park was first approved.

Brennan said he plans to investigate whether any of Staben’s alleged actions on the land violated the terms of the permit.

Any move to revoke the permit would require action by the city’s Planning Commission, an action that could then be appealed to the City Council, city officials said.