OJAI : Skateboard Park Is Opposed by Council

Ojai City Council members have urged skateboard enthusiasts to talk their parents out of supporting an initiative aimed at building a skateboard park in the city.

Residents launched the initiative in February after the council, citing a lack of money, rejected a master plan for Sarazotti Park, which would have included construction of a skateboard facility. The initiative would force the city to establish a $125,000 recreation fund by using grants or increasing the city’s hotel tax.

When skateboarders approached the council Tuesday night with $4,500 they had raised to fund the master plan, the council again rejected it.

‘I cannot adopt this at this time,” Councilman James Loebl said of the master plan. “Not because it’s not a good thing or it won’t be of enjoyment to a great number of people, but because it has been tied to an initiative that will be disastrous for the city.”

The council will consider the master plan again in May, when it starts reviewing its 1995-96 budget.

Council members said they hoped initiative supporters would drop their effort by then. But park supporter Craig Walker said he would continue collecting signatures.

Walker has until October to collect 700 signatures to force a vote on the issue in the March election.