Ojai Plaza to Get a New Look
The plaza behind Melony Vance’s bookstore in downtown Ojai has become an eyesore. The plants are dying, the sidewalks are cracked and the water fountain is missing chunks of blue tile.
“It looks like someone’s neglected backyard,” said Vance, manager of Local Hero Books. “It’s really a potentially nice space, but it’s not used and it’s in disrepair.”
The city of Ojai next month plans to begin a $1.6-million project to renovate Ojai Arcade Plaza--a park the size of a city block behind several businesses between Ojai Avenue and Matilija Street. The goal is to increase foot traffic, attract more customers and give pedestrians a quiet place to sit, dine and enjoy public art.
The project, to be finished in November, will include new sod, lighting, brick sidewalks, restrooms, planters and carved boulders for use as chairs and benches. There will be a community stage. About 30 trees will be planted and a 12-foot-wide circular fountain with a 4-foot-tall bronze Matilija poppy in the middle will become the plaza’s centerpiece.
City officials hope that an increase in visitors will prompt merchants to use their backdoors as second entrances.
“It’s going to eliminate some blighted conditions behind the Arcade and increase economic activity,” said Kathleen McCann, city redevelopment analyst. “Our downtown is important to our economic vitality.”
The improvements have been planned since 1997, when the city hired a firm to design the changes and hold public workshops to gather opinions from residents, merchants and artists.
The project has not been without controversy. The city decided to remove the existing fountain and replace it with sculptures and other work by local artists. The artwork would be exhibited on a rotating basis throughout the year.
Stuart Rupp, owner of Nancy Rupp Studio/Gallery, wants the fountain preserved. It sits near the entrance of his gallery, which belonged to his wife, who died last March. The fountain is the reason she decided to open the gallery in Ojai, he said.
More than that, Rupp said, the fountain has cultural and historical value. The plaza was designed 25 years ago by renowned architect Zelma Wilson, and though Wilson didn’t design the fountain, it is still part of her overall vision for the property, he said.
Rupp said he has collected 1,200 signatures from people nationwide and in England who visit Ojai annually and would prefer the fountain remain. He said it’s a better fit for Ojai than the proposed water sculpture, which is expected to draw pedestrians into the plaza.
“They are the antithesis of each other,” Rupp said. “People come to Ojai for the intimacy. They come for the spirituality.”
City Manager Dan Singer said the water fountain doesn’t fit with the renovation, and it’s illogical to have two water features within 100 feet of each other. He said city officials will determine whether it can be placed elsewhere in town. If not, it will be sold at auction or to any interested buyer.
Hallie Katz, who owns the Human Arts gallery along the plaza, was on the five-person committee that in May suggested removing the fountain. Katz said she didn’t realize at the time how significant the fountain is to some in the community and would have suggested a compromise.
“I don’t think anybody realized how important the fountain would become to people who have a sense of connection,” Katz said. “I think it was too cavalierly dismissed as an insignificant part of the plan.”
