Building Won’t Be Opposed by SOAR

Leaders of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) say they won’t oppose a $7.5-million expansion of St. Joseph’s Health and Retirement Center.

“We’re not going to take a position on it,” Steve Bennett, a member of the group’s board of directors, said last week.

The center, at 2464 E. Ojai Ave., is owned and operated by the Brothers of Saint John of God, who have applied to the county for a general plan amendment that would entail the removal of 464 orange trees from 5.84 acres of land that is designated under the open space measure as prime agricultural land.

To balance the loss of trees, an Ojai rancher and supporter of the center has offered to plant up to 10 acres of citrus trees on uncultivated land. Project managers said that by exercising this option, there would be a net gain of about 630 trees.

Brother Hugo Stippler said expansion of the facility would help them better serve the community.

“Our mission is still with the elderly,” he said, explaining that a market study has indicated the need to expand the facility beyond its long-term care 28 beds.

William Howard Wittausch, the project architect, said plans for increasing the center’s capacity to 60 beds include constructing a two-story building on the property. Wittausch said the project is also necessary to bring the center up to building and seismic codes that have changed since the center opened in 1956.

Project organizers said the project is tentatively scheduled to go before the Ventura County Planning Commission Sept. 2 and, if all goes well, will likely go before the Board of Supervisors Oct. 19. Pending approval, the project would then be placed on the March 2000 primary election ballot.

The brothers want the new building to be ready for occupancy by summer 2002.