Ojai City Council Meeting 11/14; Architecture, Fire Woes, Alternative Energy and Relaxing Cannabis Rules

By Jay Murphy

Ojai’s City Council met on Tues evening with all Council Members in attendance. The meeting was preceded by a joint session with the Ojai’s Arts Commission and business finally concluded after a five hour marathon.

Art Commission reviews their presentation as Jeremy looks on.

Michael Addison, chairman of the Arts Commission, briefed the Council and the audience on some very successful projects emanating from the Commission staff.

Bobbie Balderman gave a delightful slide presentation on the progress of the Architecture Book Project which she states will go to print in a few weeks. The book, highlighting Ojai’s structural treasures, is visually stunning and both historically and architecturally informative. It should be a great book for any coffee table.

The Art Commission’s Mentor program also seems to be developing some budding Ojai talent in various disciplines. As Mr Addison states, Ojai is a community of artists and its artists seem willing to share their knowledge and experience with future talent. The Commission is always looking for mentors to teach different venues and mediums. According to the Commission the program has been a win win for both student and mentor.

The one downside for the Arts Commission appears to be a shortfall in funding and an immediate need for a “museum” style art rack to move, store and protect Ojai’s expanding collection. Cost will be approximately $15000.  The Council agreed to pursue the matter of funding and seemed pleased with the cooperation between the Ojai museum and the Arts Commission on this and other matters.

Fire now appears to be as much on Ojai’s mind as water. Mayor Johnston and others painted a bleak picture if a major fire engulfs the valley since entry and exits can be easily overwhelmed by a natural disaster. A presentation was delivered by Conner Jones about “Trees and the Water Cycle” to demonstrate ways to keep what water we have in the ground (as opposed to evaporating into the air). These efforts would mitigate potential fire damage but all agreed that an emergency  plan needs to be developed as soon as possible so Ojai can be ready for inevitable natural disasters from both fire and water. City Manager Steve McCreary was tasked with further research and will be contacting communities up north for feedback on what worked and what didn’t.  Readers can visit www.vcemergency.com for information and updates.

Speaker Andrew Ellison gave a presentation on LACCE, Los Angeles Community Choice for Energy, in an effort to interest the Council into looking into alternative sources for electricity to compete with SCE and their pricing. The program allows communities to purchase their power directly and thus avoid the related business and shareholder costs associated with current utility companies.  The Council seemed very interested and agreed to set up a meeting to pursue the issue with the LACCE. You can find more information on their program at  http://green.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/green/lacce.

Previous business relating to zoning was concluded with the Council agreeing unanimously to move forward with remodeling at 334 East Ojai Ave as approved by the Planning Commision. The property at 712 Drown was discussed and it was agreed to “ease” forward with converting the three current lots into two, pending the continued review of water runoff on adjacent properties.

Clearly the biggest topic of the night was  regulation and cultivation of cannabis in the Ojai Valley. Currently there are three cannabis pharmacies in Ojai but they claim the the city ordinance cripples their business and is cause for more competition from outside the valley as well as illegal cultivation and sale.

At least seven people spoke to the Council, all but one pro-cannabis. The thrust seemed to be the need for pain relief, amply described by a young cancer survivor who prefers a “natural” form of pain relief to prescription drugs.

Discussion focused on the City Ordinance which requires a 24 delay before a patient can pick up the cannabis. Most indicated that this was excessive, comparing it to no delay at all for more traditional pain relief. At inception the ordinance was designed to slow the projected demand for the service, thought likely by both the businesses and the Council. That demand has not materialized however and the Council ceded that 24 hrs was too long to wait for medication. At first a three hour delay and finally no delay at all to pick up the cannabis was approved, much to the delight of the audience. 

The Council asked Sheriff representative Capt Fryhoff to comment on the related issue of reporting of private, personal information to other agencies without notification. The Sheriff was clear that he would be forced to share information with other agencies and could not notify the subjects of any investigations.

James Vega

Discussion also took place about the “micro business” side of cannabis cultivation with the State saying that up to 10,000 sq ft was the limiting size and the Council suggesting that they could reduce that size if necessary. The cannibis business in Ojai appears to be picking up momentum.

A number of issues were advanced to a future calendar since time was approaching 11pm and both the council and the audience were exhausted.

Finally, kudos this week to Asst City Manager James Vega for his yeoman work with the Arts Commission as their liaison at City Hall. According to Ms Golden, Mr Vega has gone above and beyond to help coordinate her Commission’s successful projects. Agreement was unanimous.

Jay Murphy is retired and living in Ojai

Get Citizensjournal.us Headlines free  SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing –DONATE