Council to Hear Housing Plan Appeal

The City Council will consider an appeal tonight of the Planning Commission’s approval of a condominium project proposed for land just east of Libbey Park.

Opponents of the Los Arboles project--which would place 23 expensive condominiums on about three acres along South Montgomery Street--say it’s too densely packed for the neighborhood, and would draw more traffic to downtown Ojai.

Proponents say the project would spare open space from development, bring a rundown urban block back to life and not increase traffic because residents could walk to nearby shops.

The council is scheduled to hear the appeal at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 401 S. Ventura St.

The appeal, filed by the environmental group Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, is the first major decision before the reorganized council, which includes new member Rae Hanstad and Sue Horgan, who was elected last month after being appointed to the council in 1999. She replaced then-Mayor Ellen Hall, who moved to Australia.

If the council rejects the appeal, it would then consider a zoning change that is required before the project could be built.

New Mayor David Bury said Tuesday’s meeting will provide the council its first chance to review a revamped version of the project. In July, the Planning Commission rejected the developer’s plans for combined office-residential use. Those plans called for larger buildings and less parking than in current designs.

The land was once home to 29 cottages built in the 1940s to house railroad workers. By the early 1990s, with the cottages rundown, the site became home to transients and drug dealers. The cottages have since been razed.

In the Planning Commission’s July rejection, several commissioners asked the developers to give the project a more open feel, make it look less imposing from the rear, where it can be seen from Libbey Park, and make it more compatible with the neighborhood.