VENTURA — A study has found that establishing a redevelopment district in the city's aging midtown corridor would cause no major environmental damage and would benefit the area by upgrading blighted buildings and encouraging private investment.
The draft environmental impact report released this week identified five potential problem areas: traffic, noise, preservation of historic sites, school crowding and poor air quality during periods of construction.
But the report concluded that those concerns could easily be mitigated.
"It was a positive report," said David Kleitsch, the city's economic development manager. "There are no surprises. It's a cleanup and fix-up project."
The state created redevelopment districts two decades ago to help cities transform blighted areas. Using a complex process called tax-increment financing, cities are able to set aside property tax revenue collected in designated areas that would otherwise be used to pay for city services and programs.
Cities are able to use the increment--any increase in property taxes in those designated areas--to borrow against, to finance development or to provide low-interest loans to property owners to make their own property improvements.
Ventura's only existing redevelopment zone is in the downtown area, where redevelopment funds have been used to construct a $4-million parking garage on Santa Clara Street and help build a $6.5-million movie theater and retail complex on Main Street.
As proposed, the midtown redevelopment zone would look like a giant pair of tweezers running along Main Street and Thompson Boulevard from Ash Street to Mills Road.
The redevelopment area would also include the Buenaventura Mall and portions of Loma Vista and Telegraph roads.
Preliminary studies have shown that redevelopment could help raise as much as $12 million for midtown improvements. And the environmental report released this week supports those findings.
The study found that redevelopment status would allow the city to reverse a pattern of blight by sprucing up business facades, adding parking and improving roadways.
In addition, it concluded, creating a redevelopment zone would encourage business owners on Main and Thompson to reinvest in their own properties and encourage new residential development in the surrounding area.
"You have this section of midtown which is tired-looking and really needs some sprucing up, and that is the entire idea behind the redevelopment project," said Mayor Jim Friedman.
