More trees, more pickleball planned for Soule Park

Pickleball

The Ojai Parks and Recreation Commission did not include the Soule Park pickleball courts in its Request For Proposals for sound testing because, as stated at its Sept. 1 meeting, the park is not under the jurisdiction of the city at present.

Residents near the Libbey Park tennis courts, which are being used by pickleball players, have been asking the city to find a different location for the game and have been pressing for the use of Soule Park for the game due to the loud and continuous sound produced by the game. At recent City Council and Parks and Recreation Commission meetings, pickleball players have not supported a move to Soule Park, saying it is inconvenient and would require driving, rather than walking or biking, to the city courts at Libbey Park.

City staff told the commission on Sept. 1 that any agreement reached by the city and the county would have to be approved by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and Ojai City Council, and that the current planned process is that then, after adoption, the commission would be invited to “provide input on how to manage” the city-governed aspects of the park management.

At its Sept. 1 meeting, Ojai Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Suzi Taylor said she hoped the commission would be consulted prior to the end of the agreement between the city and county being finalized so that any issues could be “addressed from a recreation standpoint.” She also mentioned the issue with the “gate fee” and hoped that it would be resolved as part of the process.

LaVere said the conversations have been taking place for the past two to three months and included Ojai City Manager James Vega, Ojai Parks and Recreation director Luis Gomez, council members and Ventura County Parks Director, Colter Chisum.

New trees coming to Soule Park

According to LaVere, the conversations are not “focused on the city taking over management of the entire park” or “maintenance of the trees. What happened with the trees was terrible. There were several factors, such as drought, which impacted this, but the county has also learned that we need to change how we manage the trees, specifically in terms of what materials are used in the management of the trees.”

LaVere said that Ventura County has received a $600,000 grant from CalFire “to replace the distressed trees and plant new, native trees. This will actually increase the overall number of trees in the park.” In terms of future management of the trees, he said, “Our Parks Department has also changed their maintenance standards, and the materials used as part of this maintenance, to ensure that such a loss of trees never happens again.”

The new Soule Park trees should be replaced within the next 18 to 24 months, said LaVere, adding that the “the grant contract is being signed this week and must be executed by March 15, 2026.” As part of the planting of the new trees, there will be a “design phase, and as we are working with Ojai on better activating the park, we may find we need to address new needs that the current arrangement of amenities and trees doesn’t optimally address.”

“Also, since the 82 trees that were stressed/dying include primarily non-native mature ash and maple trees, we won’t be doing a replacement in-kind approach and will be focusing on native tree plantings,” said LaVere.

The county is no longer using the herbicide, Polaris, “for tree well control,” per recommendations from the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner, said LaVere. He said the landscape contractors the county is working with at Soule Park have certified arborsists within the company. “We have switched to having all recurring landscape management be performed by contractors who are well-versed with our new standards.”