City Wants Full Mallory Way EIR

Owners want to destroy 18 of 25 former motor lodge turned rental units, remove 35 healthy trees

By Nao Braverman
After substantial opposition from local residents, the city of Ojai has decided to require a full environmental impact report for the Mallory Way bungalows project, according to city planner Katrina Schmidt.
“This gives us a broader forum for the public to comment on the process and we thought that would be a good thing,” said Abe Leider, a planning consultant with Rincon Consultants, who is the project manager for the EIR. As a result the Mallory Way project won’t appear before the Planning Commission until early 2009, he said.
Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by oak, California pepper and eucalyptus trees, the Mallory Way cottages have been among Ojai’s few moderately priced rental units for years.
Just walking distance from downtown, the modest homes, clustered together in a friendly semi-circle, were among Ojai’s best-kept secrets until about four years ago.
In 2004, a project to tear down the majority of Mallory Way rental units to make room for brand-new two-story condominiums was met with controversy at a Planning Commission meeting. The item subsequently dragged on for four years, and drew public attention to Mallory Way, especially during the 2006 City Council elections.
While some Eucalyptus Street residents applauded the suggestion of the so-called upgrade to their next door neighborhood at a 2006 Historic Preservation meeting, the majority of attendants rebuked it.
Opponents of the project cited the historical significance of the community, which was originally built as an auto court in the 1940s, with each cottage named after a racehorse. In 1997 the cottages also appeared in Oprah Winfrey’s movie, “Before Women Had Wings.”
Members of the public also raised a number of complaints about losing much-needed affordable rental units in Ojai.
The city’s initial study of the Mallory Way project states that buildings on the site could be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historic Resources and the City of Ojai Landmarks as a remnant of the post-war automobile tourism era in Ojai. Those impacts will be studied further in the EIR, according to the initial study.
Pat Doerner, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, said that commissioners had decided in 2006 that the Mallory Way cottages had veered far from the motor court that was built in the 1940s. They had been turned into family homes and the swimming pool that was once part of the motor court had since been filled with cement. If it had been declared a historic landmark long ago, it would have been protected. But since it hadn’t, some pictures of the cottages for the Ojai Valley Museum would suffice.
Jeffrey Becker of the Matilija Investment Group said that an exhibit will be created for the Ojai Valley Museum, not only telling the story of the Mallory Way Motor Court, but also of post-World War II tourism in the Ojai Valley. In addition, the group is preserving and restoring six of the cottages, and adding an onsite commemoration plaque and garden area telling the history of the site.
As to the loss of affordable housing, city manager Jere Kersnar stated in an interview in July that while the existing units are often referred to as affordable housing, many of them are studios that are listed at higher than the affordable bracket.
Matilija Investment Property LLC, the ownership group, has proposed to destroy 18 of the 25 existing rental units and construct 23 new units in their place, with the result of the 30 total homes in the proposed Mallory Way community.
While the unofficial affordable rentals will be destroyed, the owners plan to provide seven affordable units, two for moderate-income tenants, and five designated as affordable housing for very-low-income occupants. Those seven are not only considered a sufficient replacement, but also grant the applicants a density bonus for making 24 percent of the housing units affordable, according to the initial study. With that density bonus, they are allowed to build two more housing units than the city’s general plan normally allows in the 3.58-acre Mallory Way property.
The recent study has also raised some concern about the project because it calls to remove 49 of the 88 trees at the site. While 14 of them were found to be unhealthy or unsafe by the consulting arborist, Paul Rogers, 35 of them are healthy trees to be removed to make room for the development. Of those 35, 11 are Ojai’s cherished oak trees. According to the trunk diameters of those oaks which range from about 5 to 19 inches, the trees probably range from around 4 to 40 years old according to Mark Crane of Mark Crane’s Tree and Arborist services in Ojai.
The applicants propose to plant 116 new trees as a mitigation measure, 34 of which are native oaks, according to Becker. But Crane said that volunteer trees are much more likely to survive than those that are grown in a nursery. Trees that have sprouted from acorns have survived natural selection and tend to survive well without human interference, he said.
The initial study of the proposed project also notes that while the site has not been officially identified as a migration corridor, a concentration of birds have been seen around Mallory Way. The EIR will further analyze the impact that removing the trees would have on other wildlife species, according to the study.
Rincon Consultants is currently accepting comments from the public for the EIR for the Mallory Way Bungalow project until 5 p.m. on Nov. 3. Comments can be mailed to Schmidt at the Community Development Department, 401 S. Ventura St., e-mailed to schmidt@ci.ojai.ca.us or faxed to the city at 640-1136. For more information call the City Planning and Community Development Department at 640-2555.Members of the public also raised a number of complaints about losing much-needed affordable rental units in Ojai.
The city’s initial study of the Mallory Way project states that buildings on the site could be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historic Resources and the City of Ojai Landmarks as a remnant of the post-war automobile tourism era in Ojai. Those impacts will be studied further in the EIR, according to the initial study.
Pat Doerner, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, said that commissioners had decided in 2006 that the Mallory Way cottages had veered far from the motor court that was built in the 1940s. They had been turned into family homes and the swimming pool that was once part of the motor court had since been filled with cement. If it had been declared a historic landmark long ago, it would have been protected. But since it hadn’t, some pictures of the cottages for the Ojai Valley Museum would suffice.
Jeffrey Becker of the Matilija Investment Group said that an exhibit will be created for the Ojai Valley Museum, not only telling the story of the Mallory Way Motor Court, but also of post-World War II tourism in the Ojai Valley. In addition, the group is preserving and restoring six of the cottages, and adding an onsite commemoration plaque and garden area telling the history of the site.
As to the loss of affordable housing, city manager Jere Kersnar stated in an interview in July that while the existing units are often referred to as affordable housing, many of them are studios that are listed at higher than the affordable bracket.
Matilija Investment Property LLC, the ownership group, has proposed to destroy 18 of the 25 existing rental units and construct 23 new units in their place, with the result of 30 total homes in the proposed Mallory Way community.
While the unofficial affordable rentals will be destroyed, the owners plan to provide seven affordable units, two for moderate-income tenants, and five designated as affordable housing for very-low-income occupants. Those seven are not only considered a sufficient replacement, but also grant the applicants a density bonus for making 24 percent of the housing units affordable, according to the initial study. With that density bonus, they are allowed to build two more housing units than the city’s general plan normally allows in the 3.58-acre Mallory Way property.
The recent study has also raised some concern about the project because it calls to remove 49 of the 88 trees at the site. While 14 of them were found to be unhealthy or unsafe by the consulting arborist, Paul Rogers, 35 of them are healthy trees to be removed to make room for the development. Of those 35, 11 are Ojai’s cherished oak trees. According to the trunk diameters of those oaks which range from about 5 to 19 inches, the trees probably range from around 4 to 40 years old according to Mark Crane of Mark Crane’s Tree and Arborist services in Ojai.
The applicants propose to plant 116 new trees as a mitigation measure, 34 of which are native oaks, according to Becker. But Crane said that volunteer trees are much more likely to survive than those that are grown in a nursery. Trees that have sprouted from acorns have survived natural selection and tend to survive well without human interference, he said.
The initial study of the proposed project also notes that while the site has not been officially identified as a migration corridor, a concentration of birds have been seen around Mallory Way. The EIR will further analyze the impact that removing the trees would have on other wildlife species, according to the study.
Rincon Consultants is currently accepting comments from the public for the EIR for the Mallory Way bungalow project until 5 p.m. on Nov. 3. Comments can be mailed to Schmidt at the Community Development Department, 401 S. Ventura St., e-mailed to schmidt@ci.ojai.ca.us or faxed to the city at 640-1136. For more information call the City Planning and Community Development Department at 640-2555.