Ventura Negotiates for Exemption From Hookup Moratorium

The city of Ventura is negotiating with a west county water district to win an exemption from a moratorium on hookups that could halt the city’s plans to revitalize its downtown area.

In addition, Ventura officials hope to negotiate a larger annual allocation than the city would be granted under a conservation plan that the Casitas Municipal Water District expects to adopt next month.

“We’ve got a lot of neat plans and not much water,” said Shelley Jones, Ventura’s public works director.

Under a moratorium set up in April, Casitas prohibits any new water connections in its service area, which includes the homes and businesses in the western third of Ventura and parts of the Ojai Valley.

Ventura City Council members say Casitas should give an annual allotment to the city and let its leaders decide how to distribute the water.

“Casitas is a water agency set up to provide water where it’s needed,” said Ventura Mayor Richard Francis. “It is not set up to decide land use and planning.”

The status of the moratorium and contention over the amount of the allocation keep the two entities in an ongoing debate.

“Our goal is to conserve Casitas’ water so that if we have another dry year, we’ll have enough to serve our district,” said Richard Hajas, Casitas’ assistant general manager. “They are trying to act in the best interest of their constituents, but we’re saying we think that what we’re allocating is a reasonable amount of water.”

Casitas’ current moratorium forbids any new water hookups within the district, which runs from Mills Road west and serves 25,000 to 30,000 people in Ventura’s western end. The city’s own conservation ordinance prohibits new water hookups as well.

But City Council members have said proposals for buildings in the downtown area would help revitalize the city and should be allowed as long as they don’t require any more water than is now used by residents and businesses occupying the same space.

For instance, the Casitas moratorium could hold up a proposed courthouse for the state 2nd District Court of Appeal that council members would like to see built at Santa Clara and Figueroa streets downtown. City officials say the building would use no more water than the three existing houses and city parking lot that now occupy the space.

Under the proposed allocation program, the city of Ventura and other Casitas customers would be required to cut water use from 1989 levels by 20% beginning in January, 1992.

In 1989, Ventura used 8,500 acre-feet of Casitas water. But mandatory water conservation in Ventura cut use to about 7,000 acre-feet during the last 12 months, Hajas said. The 20% cuts would allow the city about 6,800 acre-feet.

The city could instead opt for a plan that would cost 15% less and allow it to phase in 20% cuts from 1989 levels over three years. But that option also requires the city to cut back by 20% its use of other water sources within the Casitas district.

On average, over the last 10 years, the city has drawn 1,400 acre-feet per year from the Ventura County River Water District.

“We looked at all the other sources too, because we have to supplement them when they go dry,” Hajas said.

Hajas and city officials said they hope to have their differences resolved by Aug. 14.

The city disputes the amount of the allocation and restrictions on its water use.

“We’re trying to negotiate an entitlement, a fixed amount of water that we would be guaranteed and that we would be able to use as we see fit,” City Councilman Todd Collart said.