Ojai City Council approves 4-site housing project as part of settlement

The Ojai City Council unanimously approved a multi-site housing project last week as part of a settlement agreement with a developer.

In a special meeting on Monday, the council approved Cottages Among the Flowers on Aliso Street, the Mallory Way Bungalows on Mallory Way, Montgomery Affordable Housing on Montgomery Street and another project on 510 E. Ojai Avenue. The project will include some affordable units.

The developer, Jeffrey Becker of Ojai Bungalows LP, sued the city in November for taking too much time to hold a hearing on the proposed housing. The lawsuit, filed in Ventura County Superior Court, demanded hearings for two of the properties.

Although council members approved the agreement on Monday, the two sides were still working out final details, said Interim City Manager Carl Alameda on Thursday. The city attorney’s office is making final revisions to properly capture all of the points, Alameda said via email.

Of the four sites, Cottages Among the Flowers and Mallory Way Bungalows currently house tenants. Montgomery Affordable Housing and the Ojai Avenue sites are vacant.

The developer originally planned to demolish 18 of 25 bungalows, but now will save all of them.

“This isn’t our dream agreement," said Councilmember Rachel Lang before voting yes. "This isn’t the developer’s dream agreement. But it protects every single person who lives in the cottages and the bungalows."

The quick settlement came ahead of a Jan. 1 amendment to state law that will allow more density for affordable housing projects. The change would allow the developer to build more units on the Mallory property and allow buildings up to three or four stories, said Sunny Soltani, an attorney hired by the city to help with the settlement.

Council members began the meeting with a closed session to discuss the potential agreement.

During public comment, many of the 20 speakers said they didn’t have time to properly review the settlement.

“I’m really angry that you sat in that room for an hour … then you come out and you drop this big plan on us that we have no way to be able to interpret it and you’re set to vote on it tonight,” said resident Anita Cramm.

Within the four properties, plans call for 98 total units with 31 of them affordable. Of the 31, seven are for very low-income residents, six are for low-income and 18 are for moderate-income residents, staff said.

Residents currently living in the 25 units at Mallory Way can choose to stay with tenant protections, City Attorney Matthew Summers said. If they leave, the units will become market rate, he said.

The Ojai Avenue property was not included in a prior development proposal while another property, the former site of World University at 107 N. Ventura St., was.

Alameda said the developer withdrew World University from the site and is exploring other options for the property.

The council first approved the project in October 2022, but subsequent dissent derailed it. A successful referendum launched by opponents days after it was approved demanded the project go to city voters for a decision. In January, the council put the project on the March 2024 ballot.

In October this year, council members took the apartment project off the ballot and — at the developer's request — rescinded the development agreement for the then 67-unit proposal.

Beth Collins, attorney for the Ojai Bungalows/Greenhawk LLC project, had written a letter to the city over the summer saying high election costs as well as litigation from local nonprofit Simply Ojai would make it hard to continue with the project. The letter claimed the development was being "actively blocked" by the current city council.

Sabrina Venskus, an attorney for Simply Ojai, said at Monday's meeting her clients wanted more time to review the settlement agreement. The group filed its lawsuit seeking to overturn project approvals in late 2022. That suit had been on hold ahead of the referendum's outcome.

Separately, at a special meeting held Wednesday, the council considered a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Some attendees disrupted the meeting with yelling, prompting several council members to briefly leave the room. The members returned without voting on the resolution. Mayor Betsy Stix read a statement saying the council was mortified by the death and destruction. Adopting the resolution that night, however, wouldn't end the violence, she said, but would "perpetuate more divisiveness and hatred in our community."

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ojai City Council approves multi-site housing project