ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

(Gravel Truck cutting through Ojai at Summer & Signal. Photo credit to Daly Road Graphics, Ray Smith)

One participant said "she's particularly concerned that the committee isn't supporting Berg's recommendation to hire a land-use ombudsman, a high-level person outside the Resource Management Agency who would deal with citizen complaints."

"There's also some skepticism from players in the process who aren't developers. Howard Smith is a founding member of Stop the Trucks, a group in Ojai that has filed complaints with the county against the companies that send trucks through the Ojai Valley from the quarries and gravel mines to the north. He was interviewed for Berg's report and he has spoken to the Board of Supervisors about the proposed reforms, but he said he wasn't invited to last week's workshop.

"Smith said he's worried that his group's concern — the lack of attention paid to enforcing the conditions of permits granted to the gravel mines and other companies — will be pushed aside."

"I don't sense any willingness on the part of the mid-level staff to actually deal with this," he said. "The notion of having to discipline someone seems like an anathema to them."

(Gravel Truck stopped on Ojai Ave. Photo credit to Daly Road Graphics, Ray Smith)

Jerry Kaplan, the first candidate competing for a seat on the MAC (Municipal Advisor Council) has joined Suza Francina in responding to our questions for candidates. Jerry is running for the seat from District Seven, which covers most of the East End and the Far Northwest side of the Valley. "Stop the Trucks" hopes the other MAC candidates and those running for the City Council will take a few moments to answer a few questions online. We would like each candidate to share their thoughts with the public on the how they intend to deal with the long term threat posed by gravel trucking through Ojai and the blind eye that the Ventura County Planning Division is seemingly paying to regular daily violations of the existing Conditional Use Permits (C.U.P.'s).

1. Do you now or have you in the past personally supported “Stop the Trucks!”

As a founding member of “The Coalition to Stop the Trucks” I have been a very active and supporting member of this Coalition. I first became aware of this potential problem when I attended a meeting of the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) over a year ago. I immediately contacted Howard Smith, a community active Ojai resident, who was then President of VCEDA (Ventura County Economic Development Association), to see if he was aware of the problem of gravel trucks coming through the Ojai Valley. After Howard did some research, we formed the “Coalition” and Howard immediately alerted the Ventura County Star and the Ojai Valley News. From that start the “Coalition” has grown into a hard hitting successful advocate of the Greater Ojai Valley’s fight to stop the potential extremely harmful effects on the Citizens way of life in the Greater Ojai Valley. Everyone living or working the Ojai Valley should be big supporters of the “Coalition to Stop the Trucks”. My concern over this issue, as well as other issues facing our valley, caused me to run for the Municipal Advisory Council (MAC).

2. If so please give examples of actions you have taken

Besides being a founder of the Coalition I have donated money and time and energy in helping to develop the Coalition. I have done substantial research in support of the successful actions taken to stop the trucks and my wife, Anne Grupp-Kaplan, a successful attorney, continue being involved in the decision making process of the Coalition. We, along with several other members of the coalition traveled to Santa Maria to participate in hearings by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission on applications for new mines in Santa Barbara County which could have sent hundreds of gravel trucks through the Ojai Valley every day. I arranged for an Ojai Rotary Club informational forum on the potential substantial problems with highways 33 and 150 as a result of gravel trucks use of these highways. The discussions were between Howard Smith and Sameer Haddadeen, Chief, Office of Traffic Investigations, Caltrans, District 7. I have been a speaker before several groups, organizations and Los Padres Forest personnel and volunteers explaining how continued and increased Gravel truck traffic through the Greater Ojai Valley would have catastrophic effects on all aspects of this area. I continue being an active member of the Coalition and do everything I can to support its activities.

(Jerry Kaplan & Tyler Suchman wave the flag at a Stop the Trucks rally last year)

3. Do you believe the Ojai City Council should take a more active role in the truck campaign, such as providing funding and legal support?

I believe the city of Ojai should be providing substantial support for the Coalition in all areas including financial, legal, research, personnel, and assistance with dealing with other government agencies at all levels. The potential adverse effects include economic, environmental, safety, to name a few. We could be dealing with the life or death of our Valley as we know it.

4. If so, can you name specific steps that you believe the City can and should undertake?

The City of Ojai, with a population of around 8,000 people is the hub of the Greater Ojai Valley which has a population of around 30,000. As a result I believe that the City Council has the responsibility of being substantially involved in anything that threatens all of the residents of the Ojai Valley. There is substantial interaction between the City and the surrounding non incorporated areas. The City Council is the glue that holds the Greater Ojai Valley together. In this instance, which is similar to the Weldon Canyon situation, the City Council and the City of Ojai should be in the forefront of providing the where-with-all and leadership, in partnership with the Coalition to Stop the Trucks, to fend off this substantial attack on the Ojai Valley. The City should also be reaching out to all organizations in the Greater Ojai Valley for support and involvement, as partners in this project. This should include the Municipal Advisory Council, the community leadership group in Oak View and all other components of the Greater Ojai Valley. The City of Ojai should also be providing the leadership for a visioning and strategic planning for the next 25 to 50 years in order to get ahead of the curve and eliminating threats to our community like the “Gravel Trucks” Either the Greater Ojai Valley does its best to control the changes which will take place in the future, or others will. Since “Change” is the only constant in life I vote for doing our best to control it as much as possible.

The Coalition to Stop the Trucks is and has been doing an outstanding job of fighting off the Gravel Truck threats. The City of Ojai should immediately join with, and add support in every possible way and participate with the Coalition in all aspects of this fight!

5. Do you believe the City should work with Caltrans to permanently ban all thru trucking on Route 33 north of Ojai and on Route 150 through downtown Ojai?

Absolutely! I also feel that joint City and County action should be taken to eliminate all unnecessary or high impact traffic on all of route 33 and 150. This concept would need to be researched so as not to harm healthy and necessary traffic through these areas. If I am elected to the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council I pledge to work hard to help these suggestions become fact.

6, if so, what specific steps would you take to see this accomplished.

Please see my answer to question 5, above. Also, because I have been and still am very substantially involved with the “Coalition” I would continue to strongly support the many and creative possible steps we have developed for accomplishing and monitoring such a ban on specific heavy truck traffic through the Greater Ojai Valley.

7.The Ozena mine’s county permit states its “normal hours of operation” for trucks traveling on Highway 33 in the Ojai Valley are from 6 to 7 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., yet they seem to be in violation of these conditions and so far County officials have failed to take any action. What steps should the City take to see that County officials enforce the Permit?

The Coalition is doing and has done an incredible job of researching, investigating and demanding public records relating to these violations. As MAC advises the county, I would hope to bring pressure so that these enforcement problems are solved.

8. Would you actively support the Coalition’s request to have an independent Ombudsman appointed to not only undertake a further investigation into the abuse of CUP 5170 by the permit holders, but also the very operation of compliance monitoring by the Planning Division?

Absolutely! Again, because of my ongoing involvement with the “Coalition” I am very aware of the great need for an appointment of an Ombudsman not only to investigate the Ozena Mine’s activities, but possibly more important, the seemingly absolute faultiness of the Ventura County Planning Department to do their duty of correctly and consistently monitoring the Conditional Use Permit’s they issue. The Director of the Planning Department admitted this during a meeting with the Supervisors of Ventura County! Also, if I am elected to the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) I will actively pursue this request until it happens!!

9. Given the Planning Divisions claim that it is seemingly impossible to monitor C.U.P. compliance, do you agree that the County has no business, under CEQA guidelines, approving the CUP in the first place?

Absolutely! The Coalition has done substantial research into ways of providing accurate and consistent monitoring of CUP’s such as Ozena’s. This has been discussed with the Planning Department of Ventura County yet they still have done nothing to make it happen.

10 Do you believe the County should begin the process to terminate Ozena’s current C.U.P.?

The Coalition has provided the County Planning Department much more than all the information they need to proceed with this termination. Again, if elected to MAC I would bring this to the attention of the other members and suggest that immediate action be taken by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to assure that the Planning Department does its job, correctly and quickly, including terminiating the current C.U.P.

11. And if so, how would you persuade the County to accomplish this?

See answer for question 10, above. Also, I would continue to work hard, as a founding member of the Coalition to Stop the Trucks, to use all of our creativity and persistence to cause a permanent ban on all through heavy trucking, such as gravel trucks, on all of Highways 33 and 150.

As a member of the Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council, I would do everything possible to educate the council and the Board of Supervisors on this threat to the Greater Ojai Valley, including facilitating meetings with members of the Coalition which, I believe, would help the other members of the MAC to understand and take action on the threats and evidence of wrongdoing by Ozena and the apparent misconduct of the Planning Department.
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Send your donations to the Stop The Trucks! Coalition – c/o The Ojai Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 1134, Ojai, CA, 93024, or you may also walk your contribution into the Chamber’s offices anytime during the business week, at 201 S. Signal Street -- in the Ojai Festivals building -- in downtown Ojai.

(The "Stop the Trucks!" Coalition reserves the right to remove any comments that are either off topic or otherwise inappropriate.)