Planning gives green light to Los Arboles project, again
by C.A. Gilman

The Los Arboles condominium saga continued at Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting. Once more the commission voted unanimously to approve the project and sent it off to the City Council for its endorsement.
Again, City Chambers were full to capacity with those supporting Lance Smigel's redevelopment of the former blighted area on South Montgomery Street, as well as the ever-faithful opponents to the project, the Citizens to Preserve the Ojai and the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County.
The city's legal counsel, Monte Widders, explained the most recent court ruling that put a halt to construction on Oct. 9, and the changes the developer has made to meet the court's requirements.
The third case the CPO had filed against the city and that was heard on Aug. 16, ruled in favor of the city in most aspects, but found against the city on three counts: 1) the variance allowing a 25-foot setback between structures was not supported by the findings; 2) the project would increase traffic and lower levels of service and is therefore inconsistent with the Circulation Element; and 3) there was no evidence to support the conclusion that less dense alternatives would not return a fair profit. Those opposing Los Arboles wanted to see 15 units rather than the 23 under development.
"On the first issue, the variance is moot because the zone change is now in effect," Widders said. The zone change allowed for 25-foot setbacks. The developer worked with traffic engineers to provide an addendum to the Los Arboles project that would clarify the traffic impact. Smigel and his consultants, Wald Realty Advisors, also provided a report on the feasibility of development alternatives and their return on investment.
Widders said, "The court's ruling did find that the project was not inconsistent with the city's growth management plan (which expired in the year 2000). The court wanted to know why there wasn't any growth management plan. We explained that was because the Housing Element was under attack and being challenged in the court (also by the CPO and Environmental Coalition). The court found that the Housing Element number was consistent with the state's requirements (despite the opposition). The city is now bringing the growth management plan back to the state. Los Arboles is consistent with the village's small growth management plan; the finding also found that the project didn't have adverse impact on air quality, and that the SEIR met the requirements of California Air Quality Environmental Act."
Traffic engineer Scot Shel said, "With the mitigated program there would actually be a reduction in traffic on 33."
Smigel said, "We've done everything we could to make this project smart growth. Three different community development directors in Ojai have supported the project. It relies in putting housing-mixed use space in the downtown area. It is an infill project; this is an improvement and classic redevelopment. We can add 23 market-rate units to the city's inventory. With several mitigation measures, we feel we can actually reduce traffic: provide a van pool, implement it and report back to the council; and agreed to a mitigation fee to add to mitigate downtown traffic problems."
Russ Baggerly: president of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County said, "With a rush to again approve this project, the addendum attempts to change the level of service (LOS) numbers to a higher level in order to accommodate this project traffic. This amounts to an ad hoc amendment to the General Plan and is contrary to law."
CPO President Ivor Benci-Woodward said, "We have continually contested the consistency with the General Plan. This has cost you almost a quarter of million dollars in attorney and court fees; I suggest you seek a second opinion and make substantial changes to the Los Arboles project and follow your own General Plan."
Commissioner John Mirk said, "This is not a rush to judgment, we have been entertaining this project for three years."
Chairman Blatz, who is also an attorney, reminded the audience, "The Planning Commission is not a legislative unit; it is administrative. Our job is to take guidance from counsel and use our best judgment in passing on measures we believe the City Council should approve."
The commission voted unanimously to send the Los Arboles project and addendum to City Council for next Tuesday night's meeting.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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