Panel Backs Controversial Road Project

A road-widening project that some residents say is part of a larger plan to turn California 118 into a freeway was approved by a county board Wednesday.

After a brief meeting, the Environmental Report Review Committee decided the project was technically sound and recommended the Board of Supervisors approve it. The committee had twice sent the draft environmental impact report back to the public works department with questions.

The project involves widening Santa Clara Avenue between Auto Center Drive and California 118, and widening Central Avenue between the Ventura Freeway and Santa Clara Avenue. Some farmland would be lost and the project could spur future growth, the impact report said.

Some Somis residents were outraged by Wednesday’s decision, saying they were “ambushed” and that committee members had made up their minds before the hearing. Some residents had appeared with charts and graphs but were not allowed to address the committee.

Jim Fullmer, the committee’s representative from the county Agriculture Department, cast the only dissenting vote.

“I don’t feel any of this is being addressed properly,” he said. “Widening this and that is going to blast out the Las Posas Valley. Two or three turn lanes in that area would have straightened the whole thing out.”