Citizens Group Set to Fight Condo Plan

Opponents of a luxury condominium complex planned for downtown Ojai vowed to fight this week’s approval of the project.

The City Council unanimously approved a zoning change Tuesday that permits construction of the 23-unit Los Arboles Townhomes, planned for land next to Libbey Park.

The next day, the environmental group Citizens to Preserve the Ojai notified city officials it intends to circulate a petition for a ballot initiative that would put the project to a public vote.

The initiative would ask for a change in Ojai’s planning guidelines that could force the City Council to reevaluate the project.

The group needs 723 signatures, equal to 15% of Ojai’s registered voters, to place the initiative on the ballot.

Proponents say building Los Arboles would save open space adjacent to the city limits from development by revitalizing a rundown block downtown and would not increase traffic because residents could walk to nearby shops.

Opponents say the two-story stucco condos would destroy the ambience of Libbey Park and generate more downtown traffic.

“This project approval shows a lack of respect for the intentions of the General Plan and breaks faith with the people of Ojai,” said Stan Greene, the organization’s president.

In December, 80 people packed the tiny council chambers and listened to Citizens to Preserve the Ojai’s request to reverse the Planning Commission’s approval of Los Arboles, which is proposed for three acres on South Montgomery Street.

It would replace 29 cottages built in the 1940s to house railroad workers.

By the early 1990s, the site had become home to transients and drug dealers. The cottages have since been razed.

More than 30 residents spoke, many of them opposed to the project, but ultimately the City Council approved it.

Interim City Manager Dan Singer said if the group collects the needed signatures, the council can either adopt the proposed changes or call for an election.

Singer said city officials do not know yet whether the initiative would require a special election.

A special election to cover a single initiative would cost the city about $7,500, said Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar for the county.