OJAI : Consultant Hired to Study Unification

After a decade of resistance to the idea, the Ojai City Council hired its first consultant Tuesday to study the possibility of forming a larger city in Ojai Valley.

The council approved an initial fee of $16,000 for Richard Mildbrodt of Sacramento to complete two phases of a study recommended by city staff and a 30-member advisory panel.

The panel of city and county residents will review the report in October but may need further information before it can make a recommendation, City Manager Andrew Belknap said.

The study will examine whether taxes paid to the county in six unincorporated areas around the city would cover the cost of municipal services.

City officials dismissed several valleywide unification studies that county agencies compiled in the 1980s. The tax base was not large enough, they said.

In other action Tuesday, the council endorsed a highly critical review of an environmental study for a county landfill proposed for Weldon Canyon, five miles south of Ojai.

Prepared by a Los Angeles attorney at the council’s request, the letter says the landfill study fails to meet state environmental law in numerous areas.

Mayor Jim Loebl and Councilwoman Nina Shelley signed the 24-page letter, which will be sent to Ventura County officials before a public hearing on the study May 29.