Category Archives: News and Notes

$2,500,000 predevelopment loan approved

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County (Housing Trust Fund VC) announces a $2,500,000 predevelopment loan approved for funding to AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc. (AMCAL) for the Terra Campagna Apartments set to begin construction in November in Somis.

The need for affordable housing is felt throughout Ventura County, especially among our most essential workers. The Terra Campagna Apartments will serve the county’s large community of farmworkers and their families with 160 affordable housing units in Somis. This represents the second phase of the Somis Ranch Farmworkers Community development. Phase one consists of 200 units and is currently under construction with an anticipated completion date in the spring of 2024. Both developments will include community centers, social services, outdoor community spaces and play areas for all ages.

The Terra Campagna Apartments will provide high-quality affordable housing utilizing state-of-the-art design, providing modern amenities and on-site services to farmworker households with incomes at 30, 50, and 60 percent of AMI (Area Median Income). The site will include social gathering spaces designed to foster community including a resident garden and computer room. Tenants will coordinate with an on-site Social Service provider to determine programs which best serve the community. With a mind toward sustainability, the development will include energy efficient construction, solar PV generation, sustainable irrigation, and a non-smoking policy. “These apartments will not only provide affordable housing to one of our County’s hardest-working communities, it will also provide important resources families need to build their future,” said Linda Braunschweiger, CEO of Housing Trust Fund VC and Housing Land Trust VC. “Affordable housing is about more than building structures, it’s about creating a strong and stable foundation for our residents, which in turn helps our community to thrive as a more inclusive environment in which we all work, raise our children, and live.”

This development is funded in part by Housing Trust Fund VC’s Everyone Deserves a Home Revolving Loan Fund, which provides below-market interest rate loans for the development of affordable housing in Ventura County. This spring, Housing Trust Fund VC received a Community Impact Note (at below market interest rate) from CBC Federal Credit Union for $250,000. This Note is combined with funds from other public and private investors and donors to provide lending capital in support of Housing Trust Fund VC’s promise of building safe and equitable homes in Ventura County.

Housing Trust Fund Ventura County – Launched as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation in 2011, Housing Trust Fund VC is the local trusted leader in helping to increase affordable housing options throughout Ventura County by leveraging public-private partnerships to provide low-cost, flexible loans early in the housing development cycle. As of June 2022, Housing Trust Fund VC has committed to investing $26 million through its Revolving Loan Fund, creating 1,166 affordable apartments and homes for very-low, low- and middle-income employees, transitional age foster youth, veterans, farm workers, and the homeless.

New developments being proposed, approved or under construction in Ventura

Hemlock Apartments (PROJ-1126)

Location: 264 Hemlock Street (District 2)
Description: Construction of a new, partial 3-story, 23-unit residential courtyard apartment building.
Status: Under Construction
Hearing Info:
Design Review Committee: 05/11/11
City Contact: Jared Rosengren, Senior Planner [email protected]

Kellogg Apartments (PROJ 11817)

Location: 58 Kellogg Street (District 1)
Description:  23 unit, 2-story, multifamily development on a 0.9-acre site.
Status: Under Construction
Hearing Info:
Design Review Committee and Planning Commission 8/21/19
City Contact: Jamie Peltier, Senior Planner, [email protected] 

Colony Parc II (PROJ 15409)

Location: 915 Goodman Ave. (District 7)
Description: A new three-story residential development with 71 units on a 2-acre site.
Status: Scheduled for Hearing
Resubmitted 7/12/22
Hearing Info:
Design Review Committee: 10/19/22
Planning Commission: TBD
City Contact: Jamie Peltier, Principal Planner, [email protected]

In a previous issue we featured this proposed project at Front and Kalorama. The Planning Commissioners determined that this project was inappropriate as designed for that location and it was unanimously denied by the commission.

Takin’ FLAT to the Streets for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

by Marissa Holzer, Stand Tall AFC Ambassador in Ventura

The going flat movement offers a fresh take on Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) 2022 through Stand Tall AFC! I am proud to be an ambassador for this body positive campaign and unite women with less than two breasts to be visible at public BCAM events. My team will be walking at the Making Strides of Greater Ventura County walk in Ventura Harbor on October 8. Our teams wear shirts with an emblem of the flat movement.

When faced with mastectomy, I rejected the idea that people would see my one-breasted self as shameful, ugly, “not finished” with treatment, or less feminine. I am none of those. In fact, I feel proud, smokin’ hot, and whole” stated walker Dr. Wendy Sage of The Simpsons

Like Dr. Sage, my teammates and I will be normalizing AFC, embracing survivorship and Takin’ FLAT to the Streets! For many people at Pinktober BCAM events, walking alongside a Stand Tall AFC team might be their first time seeing someone openly flat after mastectomy.

“Visibility makes the choice to go flat real and available to folks in a concrete way that empowers them to make the best choice for themselves’ said patient advocate Kimberly Bowles, who worked with the National Cancer Institute to define AFC in 2020.

Stand Tall AFC teams are currently in over 40 cities across the U.S. and Europe with over 400 breast cancer sisters and brothers, family, and friends uniting to empower others and celebrate body positivity!

Ventura’s Key Campaign Issues In 2022

by Res Publica

We want to outline the critical campaign issues facing City Council candidates in 2022.

If you live in Districts 1, 4, 5 or 6, you have a critical decision to make in this election. Your choice for City Councilmember will shape Ventura’s future for decades. How the candidates address the current campaign and the issues that confront our community today should guide your selection.

What campaign issues do you want your candidate to address? Your answer may depend on the district you live in but, regardless of your district, there are some citywide issues every candidate must address.

Water Is Among The Top Campaign Issues

Water and wastewater treatment will be among the costliest issues the City Council and, ultimately, you will face in the next four years. Ventura Water is asking the Council for over $259 million to complete VenturaWaterPure.

Ventura Water convinced the City Council to raise water and wastewater rates by 43% to pay for the project. They claimed the benefits would be another reliable water source by 2025 and, by doing so, we would comply with the Wishtoyo Consent Decree of 2012. Their message was that “your wastewater” would be the “reliable water source.”

Since the Council agreed to the rate increase, the project has had several significant changes. First, the city relieved the supervisorial duties over VenturaWaterPure from then-Ventura Water General Manager Susan Rungren and turned them over to Linda Sumansky inside the City Manager’s office. Placing VenturaWaterPure under the oversight of the City Manager’s office takes water and wastewater decisions away from trained engineers and water employees and turns them over to politicians.

Second, Ventura Water reduced the scope of VenturaWaterPure significantly. Ventura Water will no longer build a state-of-the-art water treatment plant by 2025. Instead, they will treat the wastewater and dump it into the ocean. As a result, what’s known as the Ocean Outfall will be completed by 2025 to fulfill the 2012 Consent Decree. The advanced water treatment plant will be completed by 2030 if all goes according to the revised plans.

Third, the Water Commission approved none of the changes to the plan for VenturaWaterPure. Ventura Water is taking the changes to the City Council, circumventing the Water Commission’s input.

Any discussion about water in Ventura should be about the cost of producing and delivering water to the citizens of Ventura. And that cost is rising. Ventura Water presented to a VenturaWaterPure Ad Hoc committee in August 2022. Ventura Water stated the planned expenditures would increase another $76 million, bringing the entire project to over $373 million.

Find out from your candidates where they stand on VenturaWaterPure.

Homelessness increased by a staggering 34% between 2020 and 2022. The city’s homeless count is 713 people. Only Oxnard, with a population twice the size of Ventura, has more.

Shouldn’t the Council and Ventura’s citizens know how much homeless services cost and how they get allocated? What should Ventura do for those not housed in the shelter? Some of the remaining homeless are vagrants. They choose to live the lifestyle and panhandle. How do candidates plan to combat vagrancy, so Ventura is more welcoming?

Public Employee Pensions Is The Toughest Campaign Issues

Ask the candidates running in your district if they will work with the city’s unions to reform public employee pensions. The last time the City Council modified pensions was 2010, and those changes were modest.

The city staff believes pensions will level out in six or seven years. Yet, the bill came from CalPERS for this year’s contribution to the unfunded pension liability, and it was staggering. Ventura will pay $19.9M to CalPERS. Can Ventura last that long amid its other financial burdens?

Campaign Finances

The elections in 2020 were the costliest in history. Since district elections began, candidates have been spending more each election cycle.

The rising expenditures seem odd. By moving to districts, each candidate needs to reach a smaller number of potential voters (15,000 instead of the entire city). City officials intended district voting to help candidates spend less to be elected. Rather, district voting has had the opposite effect.

Growth Is Always Among The Key Campaign Issues

Growth means different things to different people. Yet, it’s inescapable that Ventura needs to grow.

Ask if your candidates acknowledge that growth, jobs and water availability are inseparable. They also need to recognize and respect the opposition to building more houses with greater density and height throughout the community. Forward progress on growth means accommodating, integrating and compromising.

Voting works best when people take the time to learn about campaign issues. Educate yourself on the candidates’ positions on the campaign issues for 2022. We’ve provided a framework to ask pertinent questions.

Don’t succumb to the political feel-good clichés candidates use to attract your vote. Ask yourself, “Do these candidates have the capabilities to solve these problems?”

Operation School Bell® event is hosted by Tierra Vista Elementary School

Assistance League distributes clothing and supplies for the new school year. Photo by Brendan Daly of Brendan Daly Photography

On Monday, August 15th the Assistance League® of Ventura County brought their Operation School Bell® program to Tierra Vista Elementary School in Oxnard to distribute clothing and supplies for the new school year. This program has been going strong since 1993, providing the necessities for children and families in the community. As President Lori Nasatir expressed, “The goal of this program is to make sure children are going into their year equipped with not only clothing and supplies, but hopefully a new sense of confidence as well”. On this occasion they provided clothing, books, and school supplies to over 450 students and family members. The success of this event couldn’t have happened without the school staff and the many Assistance League® volunteers, including members from the Assisteens® and the Nancy R. Brandt groups (two auxiliaries within the organization).

For more information about this program or the organization please contact The Assistance League® of Ventura County at 805.643.2458 or [email protected]. You can also find them at www.assistanceleagueventuracounty.org as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Preventing Suicide: Connections & Community 7th Annual Forum

by Carol Leish, MA

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”—Anne Frank

Those who are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please call: 988 (The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline); or, call the Ventura County Behavioral Health Crisis Team at: 866-998-2243. It’s important to get the help that you need in order to deal with a crisis in order to realize that you are not alone, and that your situation will improve. For further resources, visit: www.WellnessEveryDay.Org.

988, which was launched nationally on July 16, 2022, is an easy-to-remember number that is a direct connection to compassionate, easily accessible care and support for anyone experiencing a mental health-related distress-including thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. Residents can also dial 988 if they are concerned about a loved one who may need crisis support (www.988lifeline.org).

Preventing Suicide: Connections & Community 7th Annual Forum will be both In-Person and Virtually. In-Person: Ventura College on Wednesday, September 21st from 9:30am-2pm, with lunch included. Virtually it will be online for Highlights and Discussion on Thursday, September 29th from 4pm-5:30pm.

“This year’s Suicide Prevention forum, ‘Preventing Suicide: Connections & Community’ will feature inspirational stories, creative expression, and wellness activities,” according to Dr. Jamie Rotnosfsky, PhD., Mental Health Service Act Senior Manager at Ventura County Behavioral Health and co-chair of the Ventura County Suicide Prevention Council. “Information about, as well as connections to, local resources will also be provided. The main stage will be held outdoors followed by breakout sessions.

“Breakout sessions will provide opportunities for deeper discussion and addressing questions. The sessions will include LGBTQ+, older adults, youth and young adults, families, mental wellness, and a session held in Spanish.”

According to Dr. Rotnosfsky, Phd., “Space is limited for both the in-person and virtual free events. Please register for either event. Please be sure to register for both events if you plan on attending the two Suicide Prevention events. All events are free and for the Ventura County Community.

“The event is sponsored by Ventura County Behavioral Health, Ventura County Suicide Prevention Council, Ventura College, Ventura County Office of Education and BRITE (Building Resilience & Inclusion Through Engagement).”

Save the dates (September 21st & September 29th), and register now! Interpretation and childcare will be available upon request. Register at: www.brite.link/forum 2022.

City Center held an open house event for current and past residents

Jim Duran welcomed all and was ready to serve food with the residents.

by Richard Lieberman

August 18, 2022, an open house event was held at the City Center in Ventura. Jim Duran the lead pastor of the River Community Church founded by Duran and his team in 2004 is the Executive Director of the City Center.

The City Center is a transitional living facility for homeless individuals and families giving them the needed skills and tools to rebuild their lives and gets them on the road to self-sufficiency and healing. The event held at the City Center, 837 East Thompson Blvd. iwas attended by several Ventura dignitaries including Sabrena Rodriguez, Ventura Unified School District, School Board, Doug Halter Ventura City Council Member, Alex McIntyre, Ventura City Manager and Sergeant Michael Anselmo, Ventura Police Department.

To be considered for the City Center program individuals or families must complete an application process. “We ask pretty simple questions there are only about nine questions we require,” Duran said. “We ask them how long they have been free from drugs and alcohol and if they say less than six months then we do another program with them.” Added Duran. “They have to be willing to work that is really the bottom line, they have to be willing to get out of the situation they are in, get their kids out of the situation, “he added. Some of the requirements include the potential resident’s willingness to get out of debt and be alcohol and drug free in order to be considered for the program. The center helps by working out programs that will help the potential resident get off government funding, and programs that help with drug or alcohol addiction.

“We have a curfew we do random drug testing unlike our shelter here in Ventura which is called a low barrier shelter so if I get in the shelter, I can eat a few meals then I can go out and get wasted and as long as I am back by curfew, I am good.” Duran added. “How is that helping anyone.” He spoke. The Center in the last eight years has helped 108 families and 304 individuals to get permanent housing and of all the graduates of the program 95% have never gone back into homelessness.

The Center also offers help by having several classes for resident’s that range from how to build a resume to financial coaching. Several businesses in our area have been willing to give the Center’s residents an opportunity at gainful employment.

City Council Member Doug Halter was in attendance. “The City Center is probably the most successful model of how to get people off the streets.” Halter said. “City Center is essential for this city.” He added.

Sponsorship for housing a family costs $7,500 and covers the cost of housing for up to a year.

What it means to be a FireWise Community

The fire consumed over 1,000 structures.

by Jill Sarick Santos

This December marks five years since the Thomas Fire stormed through Ventura County at record speed and, at the time, resulted in record devastation. The fire consumed over 1,000 structures and burned nearly 300,000 acres. While our community has worked hard these last five years to be better prepared, there still is much more work to do. Fire Safe Councils (FSCs) are grassroots, community-led organizations that mobilize residents to protect their homes, communities, and environments from catastrophic wildfire. In Ventura County, there are several established and some emerging FSCs, all with a common goal: to help ensure our communities are fire safe.

The Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council (VRFSC) was established by concerned property and business owners in 2009, incorporating as a 501c3 in 2010. The Council remained relatively small until 2020 when they received funding from California Fire Safe Council and CalFire. Since then, the VRFSC has grown to a staff of eight who report to nine board of directors. The mission of the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council is to reduce the threat of wildfire to our community, through action, education and collaboration. We achieve this through our three main programs which include, home hardening, coordinating Community Wildfire Protection Planning (CWPP) efforts, and organizing fuel reduction and mitigation activities.

Our Home Hardening Program offers free home hardening assessments that guide homeowners in a range of actions they can take to mitigate their risk. These actions range from zero to low cost with minimal effort, all the way to more expensive and elaborate retrofits. According to the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), home hardening actions can reduce a property’s risk for ignition by almost 90%1. The assessments are currently being studied by the insurance industry in hopes that actions taken could translate into more equitable homeowner insurance premium affordability.

Building upon the education and awareness that the Home Hardening program inspires, the Council also coordinates fuels mitigation work, including curbside chipper events for residents. Additionally, the Council is actively identifying strategies that would offer incentives to a homeowner when retrofitting their property to “harden it” from wildfire.

Finally, FSCs work collaboratively across a variety of stakeholder and decision-making forums to update and/or create Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), which help identify risks and priority mitigation projects.

Once the evacuation orders are issued, it is the goal of the VRFSC that we’ve done our due diligence to ensure that residents are confidently prepared to leave their homes calmly and trust that their structure will survive. This will free up emergency response personnel to focus on their critical work of saving lives and infrastructure. Together, we all can learn to adapt to and live as a FireWise Community.

To learn more, visit the Ventura County Fire Department’s Ready-Set-Go page. Homeowners located in the cities of Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark and Oxnard/Port Hueneme can register online for a free home hardening assessment.

Jill Sarick Santos has led community-based environmental outreach efforts for nearly 30 years and is the Executive Director of the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council.

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Channel Islands National Park receives funding to restore well site

Channel Islands National Park has received $1.43 million to remove and remediate a derelict well site near Scorpion Ranch on Santa Cruz Island. The funding includes removing the dilapidated infrastructure and associated debris, as well as sealing and restoring the site.

This funding is a portion of the approximately $9.8 million The National Park Service received from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to plug, remediate, and reclaim abandoned oil and gas well sites in seven national parks. Overall, bureaus within the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture will address 277 high-priority wells that pose threats to human health and safety, the climate, wildlife, and natural resources.

“Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enables us to tackle legacy pollution issues caused by past extraction activities in national parks,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Closing and reclaiming abandoned oil and gas wells will alleviate these environmental hazards that jeopardize health and safety by contaminating groundwater, emitting noxious gases, and littering the landscape.”

Additional information on other NPS projects funded through this legislation can be found at https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/bil-wells-2022.htm

County staff to clean graffiti

Recently, Supervisor Matt LaVere (ex Ventura city council member) led a group of County staff to clean up graffiti in Moon Ditch near the Ventura Auto Center. LaVere and his crew spent the day cleaning up the graffiti that has covered Moon Ditch It was a hands-on effort to remove the graffiti which was an eyesore and visible along the 101 heading south, and directly impacted the Ventura Auto Center.

The City of Ventura is committed to promptly removing graffiti from public areas. Please report graffiti to the graffiti hotline at 805-654-7805. The line is open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.