As economy heats up, Ventura City Council approves planning help

In a typical month, the city of Ventura’s planning department gets 50 requests to review projects. The plan checks, as they’re called, are to ensure submissions comply with building, zoning and other safety codes.

In September, the city received 130 of them, and it’s on track to see that many this month, Chief Building Official Yolanda Bundy told the City Council on Monday night.

“I really have never experienced this before,” said Bundy, who started working in the city in 2008.

The busy pace is a sign the economy continues on the up, but it’s also stretching thin the city’s planning staff, which is struggling to keep up with the demand. To help ease the problem, the council voted to extend a contract with Rincon Consultants through June 30 for $132,000.

Between February 2014, when the contract began, and when this extension would end, the city will have spent roughly $584,000 for Rincon's services.

The projects coming in include home improvements, such as bathroom or kitchen remodels, and larger efforts, such as the new Kaiser Permanente medical complex off Market Street, Bundy said.

In the past eight months or so, the city has received submissions for construction of more than 1,000 residential units alone, Bundy said. And 1,200 people came to the planning counter last month to ask questions or get paperwork.

The council voted 5-0, with Mayor Erik Nasarenko and council member Carl Morehouse absent, to approve the contract.

In other meeting news, Detective Cpl. David Ruggiero provided the council with an update on two types of investigations: sexual assaults and human trafficking.

Both are complex and require time-consuming investigations, and the Ventura Police Department doesn’t have enough staff to do as much as it could be doing, Ruggiero said.

Through Oct. 20, the department investigated 85 cases, compared to 69 last year. That just includes the cases that went to Safe Harbor, a multiagency center where those who have been sexually assaulted can be interviewed and directed to support. Most cases aren't reported, he said.

“We are seeing an increase in these types of crimes,” Ruggiero said.

The cases can be challenging because of the victim's age (often a child), drugs or alcohol are often a factor and evidence can be limited, he said.

The ever-growing number of social media tools, chat rooms and websites have made it easier to prey on vulnerable people.

When it comes to trafficking, which Ruggiero calls modern-day slavery and that involves forced labor or sexual exploitation, the department has been making inroads but there’s “a lot of work to do. We need a lot of resources to get it done.”

Ruggerio said police have seen girls as young as 12 forced into sexual trafficking, with many others working in illicit operations, including massage parlors and residential brothels.

Council member Mike Tracy said if the city sales tax proposal were to pass, he would push to get money directed for police to help specifically with these issues, noting that they mostly affect children, young women and young men.

Voters in November will decide whether to approve a half-cent sales tax. The general tax would go into the city’s general fund, and it could be spent on any number of things, including police.