New Ojai Growth Curbs Sought

Although Ojai is already the slowest-growing city in the county, a group of hard-core activists is pushing a pair of initiatives that city leaders fear would effectively halt all future growth.

Citizens to Preserve the Ojai wants to prohibit the city from approving construction that would cause any traffic increase unless the project can take the added burden off of roads. The group also wants to give voters the right to reject plans that would increase density on land inside the city limits.

Congestion along the city’s one narrow thoroughfare has become so bad, group President Ivor Benci-Woodward said, that any added development--even 23 proposed condominiums to replace condemned farm worker housing--would create gridlock.

“We have to do something,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘Stop adding more traffic.”’

City leaders responded earlier this week by filing a lawsuit aimed at blocking the traffic initiative from reaching the ballot, saying the plan amounts to an illegal moratorium. They have asked a Ventura County Superior Court judge to declare the initiative invalid.

“Basically, it just prohibits all improvements. Anything, a youth center. Low-income housing,” Mayor Steve Olsen said. “Yeah, we have traffic problems. You can’t deny that. But this won’t alleviate those traffic problems. Not allowing a recreation center to go in, or not allowing somebody to build a duplex, that’s ridiculous.”

City Atty. Monte Widders said the city already has strict growth limits in place. Current policies, he said, would yield only about 650 additional homes through 2050.

The city’s position is that the only way to mitigate traffic is to expand roads, something residents flatly oppose.

Benci-Woodward said his group, formed decades ago to crush state plans to extend a highway into the city, would continue to fight any proposed road expansions.

At the same time, Benci-Woodward suggests finding other ways to mitigate traffic.

“There’s a lot of alternatives we could use, van pools, public transportation,” he said. “I don’t know what the city would do. We’re leaving that up to the city. But we can’t let everybody have three or four cars.”

Widders said the activists’ plan would violate state law by preventing the city from fulfilling a mandate to provide affordable housing. It also conflicts with the city’s General Plan, he argued.

Citizens to Preserve the Ojai has already sued the city over its housing element and the condominium project. The group recently announced it will begin collecting signatures to allow the ballot vote on whether to increase density throughout the city.

Widders also accused Benci-Woodward of trying to hijack decision-making from the council because, living just outside the city limits, Benci-Woodward himself can’t run for a City Council seat.

“We’re virtually under siege by this group,” Widders said.

Benci-Woodward rejected accusations that he is politically motivated and said he believes the community will support both ballot proposals.

“I think a lot of towns in California are facing similar issues,” he said. “There’s not enough space or resources or water. We can’t all live in Ojai. It’s a lovely place and I wish we had the resources for everybody but we simply don’t.”