Council extends
skate park lease
By Jesse Phelps

Untamable skate punks briefly ruled the City Council chambers at an unusual session on Tuesday night. At issue was the extension of a lease of the downtown land used for Ojai's skate park facility.

The school district leases the land, which also includes a bus stop and parking lot, the so-called Park & Ride, to the city. The council unanimously agreed to approve a new agreement extending that lease for a third time.

A gaggle of Air-Walk- and beanie-clad youngsters descended on the chambers prior to the start of the meeting, prompting the council to move their item nearer to the top of the agenda and Mayor Joe DeVito to ask for hats to be removed during the pledge of allegiance.
Several short speeches and outbreaks of hearty applause from the group only enhanced the positive outlook shared by the council members toward the facility, which offers youthful members of the community an inexpensive option for exercise, culture and entertainment.

"The skate park gives these kids somewhere to go. It's needed," said John Riddell, the facility's manager.

Carol Belser of city Parks and Recreation also displayed conceptual drawings of a newer, more comprehensive facility she hoped the council would support in the near future.

The terms of the 20-year extension include an annual payment of $4,268 per year to the Ojai Unified School District, pending their approval.

It was a busy night. The skate park item followed a redevelopment item, which followed a special workshop on a new zoning ordinance, which followed a closed session. When they were done with all of that, the council also found time to release funds to the hospital, support a new open space resolution, discuss a second reading of the coming growth ordinance, award a contract for construction at Sarzotti Park and establish a district to move utilities underground on South Montgomery Street.

The first order of business was the officially adoption of an ordinance that will permit the redevelopment department more leeway to establish debt. This will allow the city the opportunity to continue embarking on major projects, rather then forcing a virtual halt to infrastructure improvements while old projects are paid in full.

The newest project being undertaken by redevelopment, after another unanimous vote, will be the removal of many above-ground utilities on Montgomery. The project, a joint effort between the city and the owners of the Los Arboles luxury condominium project currently under construction on the block, will also be partially funded through grants.

Council unanimously approved the release of $30,000 to the Ojai Valley Community Hospital for material upgrades - specifically, lifting equipment - that hospital representative Victoria Alexander said would "protect both employees and patients from injury."

The funds, which will allow the hospital to access grant monies totaling roughly $75,000, will be paid back to the city interest free within a couple of months, Alexander said.

The Sarzotti Park project will include a new restroom building and major improvements to the score booth building behind the backstop on the southern baseball diamond. The bid was awarded to T.J. Construction in the amount of $326, 026.

The environment also received a lift when the council unanimously agreed to support the consensus recommendations of the Ventura Open Space District Advisory Committee as they go before county lawmakers.

The committee, made up of 41 members including Ojai representatives John Broesamle and Jim Engel, worked over the last five years to put together a document to support the wishes of the voters who passed two major environmental initiatives in the late 1990s.

Filmmaker and activist Dulanie Ellis, who said she's been making a documentary about land use in the county over the last year, addressed the council, urging them to support the findings of the committee. "This is one of those exquisite moments in time where we have the opportunity to make sure we keep the quality of life that we enjoy in Ventura County," she said.
Evidently, the council agreed.

The final item of the night, a second reading of the new growth management ordinance, had to be postponed until December because, by law, no second reading, which serves as the passage of the ordinance if voted upon in the affirmative, can be conducted at a special meeting. The council earlier elected to consolidate their two regularly scheduled November meetings into a single special meeting.
They may not have had the power to vote on it but that didn't stop discussion. Most of the talk centered on how they thought their earlier 3-2 split vote was perceived by the public.

Councilman David Bury sought to clarify his position, reiterating that he hadn't voted against the ordinance because he opposed growth restrictions. Rather, he said, he was uncomfortable with a lack of resolution concerning a concept of potentially borrowing future allocations when constructing larger projects.

Near the close of the meeting, in what may have been his last diatribe before ceding the title of Mayor to Sue Horgan in December, DeVito chose to lash out at the media over the coverage of the growth ordinance.

"Most newspapers are written at a fourth- to sixth-grade level," he said. In an attempt to clarify without specifying, he said, "I really didn't like that letter to the editor."

On this night, DeVito and company decided as one that the ordinance, as written, should be approved without further ado. As such, it will be brought back as a consent calendar item, no further discussion intended, at the regularly scheduled Dec. 9 meeting.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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