Officials Reach a Compromise on Road Controversy in Ventura Keys : City Council: The panel agrees on an alternative to the proposed closure of Beachmont Street. A combination of measures is designed to restrict traffic.

After more than three hours of often caustic public testimony, the Ventura City Council late Monday agreed on a compromise plan for a proposed road closure in the Ventura Keys.

Rather than close Beachmont Street as homeowners had requested, the council decided to try a combination of traffic changes, including installing road barriers, traffic signs and vehicle tonnage limits. The council also decided to step up police patrols to crack down on speeding motorists.

“I think it is the only position you can take,” Councilman Jack Tingstrom said after the meeting. “I think this is the first step toward getting traffic [levels] down on Beachmont.”

Because the cost of installing new signs and road “worms”--concrete islands that restrict traffic--was unknown Monday night, the council voted 6 to 0 to bring the compromise package back for a final decision in a few weeks. Mayor Tom Buford did not vote because of a potential conflict of interest.

Filing out of the council chambers after the meeting, some residents said they were satisfied with the compromise plan.

“This is the first time we have gotten anything,” said Desiree Foraste, a Beachmont Street resident. “I would have been happier if they would have taken a stronger stance, but at least we have been heard.”

Beachmont homeowners appealed to the council to put a cul-de-sac at the end of their street. They say that development in the Ventura Harbor area has created unlivable traffic conditions, with trucks and boat trailers rushing down their residential street at dangerously high speeds.

But residents of the nearby Marina Mobile Home Park and business owners in the harbor area say the homeowners’ complaints are exaggerated, and urged council members not to close the street.

Although their opposition to restricting traffic on Beachmont was loud during Monday’s meeting, some mobile home park residents said the compromise plan was acceptable.

“We’re satisfied with the decision,” said Anne Wormwood, president of the mobile home park’s homeowners association. “We’re happy that it was a compromise that best suits us all.”

Although the geographical distance between the Beachmont homeowners and the mobile home park residents is slim--less than a mile--the rift between the two neighborhoods is great.

During Monday’s meeting, residents alternately hissed and applauded the 46 public speakers, forcing Deputy Mayor Gary Tuttle to repeatedly ask the crowd to behave.

“This has gone almost beyond a traffic issue,” Community Services Director Everett Millais said at the start of the meeting. “Whatever solution you might attempt to do is going to leave a number of folks unhappy.”

But after muddling through a number of possible changes, including speed humps and stop signs, the council members reached their compromise:

* Install a worm on East Harbor Boulevard.

* Consider installing either worms or signs that would prohibit left turns from the marina landing onto Anchors Way in the Harbor area.

* Limit vehicle tonnage for trucks and trailers.

* Prohibit commercial traffic.

* Increase police patrols.

“It’s a very difficult issue to address,” Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures said before the council voted. “It is something we have to look at in terms of long-term planning. It is the best compromise for the time.”