City Approves Metrolink Station for Montalvo Area

The City Council decided unanimously Monday to approve the county’s fifth Metrolink station, in an industrial section of Montalvo.

The station, which is expected to cost nearly $1 million and be in operation by next fall, will include 60 parking spaces, a platform and a ticket machine. It will have an entrance and exit off Ventura Road, but there will be no access to either Johnson Drive or the Montalvo neighborhood next to it.

Since 1994, two Metrolink trains stay the night in Montalvo and pick up the first passengers in the county in Oxnard. Metrolink also has stops in Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley. The new station will allow passengers to board in east Ventura.

Residents voiced opinions for and against the proposal for almost an hour before the council made its decision.

“I’m very pleased with the decision,” said Robert Chatenever, a Montalvo resident. “The area is an eyesore. It’s been barren, trashy and weedy for too many years and they are now going to clean it up.”

Byron McCracken, who has owned a home in the neighborhood for 21 years, said he was concerned about the Ventura County Transportation Commission keeping the area presentable.

“They haven’t been a good neighbor in the last five years,” he said.

Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the commission, said she was happy with the council’s approval.

“There is a real need for this. They made the right decision,” Gherardi said.

She predicts about 80 people will use the new station for their daily commute.