Los Arboles ruling nears
By Jesse Phelps

The Los Arboles housing development, fraught from the get-go with legal entanglements, has run up against yet another barrier: a retired judge.
Judge Melinda Johnson, arbiter of the present dispute, was slated to render a decision on whether the development meets the parameters laid out in a prior ruling before she removed her robes on Jan. 1, according to both developer Lance Smigel and Citizens to Preserve the Ojai President Ivor Benci-Woodward.
The proposed 23-unit condominium project, slated for construction on South Montgomery Street, was first attacked in February of 2001 by the CPO on grounds that its traffic impacts and density violate the city's own zoning requirements and survived with the stipulation that changes be made to the plans.
Johnson's initial ruling was that the city had abused its discretion in approving the project - it was inconsistent regarding the general plan and the Environmental Quality Act. She threw out the environmental review report for Los Arboles, citing deficiencies with the project's traffic impact report, and the developer's contention that the project's high density was needed to make it profitable.
Johnson wrote, "The city can only approve the project if it complies with all elements of the city's General Plan. It does not do so."
According to Smigel, Los Arboles complied, redid the report, and tendered back all approvals before the city council voted again to approve.
"The judge felt allegations were at points inaccurate but wanted variance in zone change, traffic issues, and wanted Los Arboles to include reasoning why less dense alternatives would be economically infeasible. We complied again, clarified traffic, no longer relied on variance. Now the court is weighing compliance," said Smigel.
Benci-Woodward disagreed on the newly submitted report. "They re-approved the project with the same issues," said Benci-Woodward. "The city council said the project is no different" than the original, rejected plans. "Whether the judge found the new plans wrong or right, the city re-approved them, making an end run around the system."
The city filed the new plans during the Christmas vacation, when, Benci-Woodward says, the CPO was unable to get a quorum together to contest them.
"The only group able to file at that time was the Environmental Coalition. We absolutely support them in the filing of the papers but we just couldn't logistically join them," Benci-Woodward said.
The Environmental Coalition contended that the variance granted to Los Arboles, narrowing the allowed distance between buildings from 45 to 25 feet, was illegal. The city contends that the variance no longer matters, since the Ojai General Plan was amended to allow narrower setbacks.
The new suit, Los Arboles 3, essentially serves as a backup should Los Arboles 2 fall through the cracks with the retired judge. At best, the new suit "Won't be heard by a judge for a long time," according to Benci-Woodward. But if Judge Johnson rules in the favor of the petitioners, the newest suit would be dropped, as it would become redundant.
"We expect to get a decision from her shortly," Benci-Woodward asserts.
Judge Johnson has been retired for some time and continues to work on Los Arboles through a special exception. Sources inside the Judge's offices reported that such exceptions are time-limited but Judge Johnson herself said she is working diligently to get through the motions, briefs, and claims.
She said the new documents are "spread out all over my dining room table." She refrained from commenting about the specifics of the documents but said she hoped her judgment would "be out in the fairly near future. Hopefully, next week or so."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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