Golf Course Plan Raises Concerns

Concerns that a proposed 200-acre public golf course in Ojai could harm the Ventura River have one county supervisor planning on Tuesday to ask more questions about an environmental study he supported last week.

Supervisor John Flynn joined colleagues Judy Mikels and Frank Schillo in voting for a study of the Farmont Golf Course plan that would not have considered the water issue. On Friday, Flynn said he would ask the board to hold a public hearing to discuss the project’s effect and to add the finding to the final report.

“I didn’t ask the question about the surface water and ground water and how much is being used,” Flynn said. “I need to be satisfied and I’m not at this point because I don’t have the answers.”

Supervisors Steve Bennett and Kathy Long were unsuccessful in their bid last week to have the course’s potential effect on local water supplies included in the environmental review being conducted by county planners.

Supporters say a second public course in Ojai would attract golfers from throughout California. The 18-hole course, which could open as early as summer 2003, would offer up to 130 rounds a day. The city now has a public course at Soule Park and a private course at the Ojai Valley Inn.

In the environmentally sensitive Ojai Valley, plans for a third course have critics fearing it would choke the city with traffic and kill off the Ventura River habitat of steelhead trout.

“Part of the concern is that it will actually hurt the water resources,” said Tom Berg, director of the county’s resource management agency. “And some people philosophically don’t like golf courses.”

Although he doesn’t play golf, Flynn said he will maintain an open mind on the project “because I have two sons who play and a son-in-law who is a golf fanatic.”

The project is a revised version of a private golf course plan initially approved by the board in 1993 after a six-year battle.

The original developer, the late Japanese media baron Kagehis Toyama, had pledged a 1,500-acre easement adjoining the facility to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy for use as open space.

The current developer, New York-based Intell Management & Investment Corp., has left open the future of the site and is considering subdividing the area near the course into six parcels to be sold and developed as mini-ranches.