3 Named to County Advisory Committee

The three people appointed to the recently founded Ventu Park Advisory Committee plan to give voice to residents of the 1,500 homes in the unincorporated district.

Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo formed the committee, similar to the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Committee, to help represent interests in the district, which is bounded by Lynn Road on the north, Lynn Oaks Avenue on the east, Lynnview Road to the west and the Ventu Park Fire Lane to the south.

Al Butler, Ron Block and Ann Vracin have been named to the committee.

Butler, 51, a real estate agent, has lived in Ventu Park for 19 years, since before the roads were paved or the sewer lines were brought in to replace the area’s septic tanks.

Block, 57, is a local businessman who has been in the district since 1992. It was confusion between the city and the county that led him to believe an advisory committee was necessary, he said.

Vracin, an orientation-program developer, has lived in the district for just a year and a half, but lived in Newbury Park for 15 years.

All three share the conviction that unincorporated districts have fewer protections and less access to services than city dwellers.

“I feel we’ve become a little enclave surrounded by this city and are sometimes overlooked, because we’re just one of these unincorporated county areas,” Butler said.

“I think this committee will give the people access through the proper channels to take care of their problems,” Butler continued, “and get the information they need and get pointed in the right direction.”

The top priority now, Vracin said, appears to be the impact of traffic on Lynn Road, which has been expanded to a four-lane, divided roadway.

“There’re 9,000 vehicles a day on Lynn Road right now,” Vracin said. “I would hate for there to be a tragedy before someone decides to do something about it.”