County of Ventura RDA in Piru

Redevelopment History:
County of Ventura RDA in Piru 

In May 1995, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors established the Piru Earthquake Recovery Program Redevelopment Plan in response to damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The primary objective of the Plan was to stimulate economic recovery through redevelopment of damaged, stagnated and improperly utilized areas of the community of Piru in the designated Redevelopment Project Area. In general, activities were grouped into one of four broad categories: Public Infrastructure, Economic Stability, Community Safety and Low & Moderate Income Housing. Activities grouped under Public Infrastructure were designed to rectify public improvement deficiencies. Economic Stability activities encompassed business retention/attraction and economic revitalization through private investment. Community Safety activities provided for resident health and safety improvements, and crime prevention. Low and Moderate Income Housing activities were targeted toward the improvement, preservation and expansion of available housing, at affordable housing cost, to persons of low, very low and moderate income. The Redevelopment Implementation Plan was adopted as the Project Area 2005 – 2009 Strategic Plan and Ten Year Housing Plan.

A Housing Conservation Program was developed that encompassed a variety of activities which collectively served to remove blighting influences, stimulate private reinvestment and promote housing preservation within the Piru Redevelopment Project Area. The Housing Conservation Program Guidelines established and implemented policies governing financial assistance to eligible applicants of qualifying property which were rehabilitated, in whole or in part, with funds made available through the County of Ventura and its Redevelopment Agency. Specific objectives of the Guidelines targeted neighborhood revitalization and low and moderate income benefit. 

Piru Earthquake Recovery Program Redevelopment Plan 

Redevelopment Implementation Plan 
Click on the link above for the Piru Redevelopment Project Area 2005 – 2009 Strategic Plan and Ten Year Housing Plan.

Piru Redevelopment Project Area Map

Housing Conservation Program Guidelines 

Projects – Past and Present

About Piru

Dissolution of Redevelopment Agencies

On December 29, 2011 the California State Supreme Court upheld ABx1 26 which dissolved all redevelopment agencies in the state of California, effective February 1, 2012.

ABx1 26 required, prior to February 1, 2012, that the city and/or county that authorized the creation of a redevelopment agency may elect to retain the housing assets and functions previously performed by the redevelopment agency as the “Housing Successor Agency”. If a city and/or county elected to retain the responsibility as the Housing Successor Agency for performing housing functions previously performed by the redevelopment agency, all rights, powers, duties, and obligations, excluding
any amounts on deposit in the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund, shall be transferred to the city and/or county.

On January 24, 2012, the County of Ventura Board of Supervisors chose to become the Housing Successor Agency to the former Redevelopment Agency, assuming all Housing responsibilities throughout the contractual period with homeowners involved in the Piru Housing Conservation Program.

Effective February 1, 2012, all assets, properties, contracts, leases, records, buildings and equipment of the former Redevelopment Agencies were transferred to the control of a designated Successor Agency. Successor Agencies were tasked with managing redevelopment projects currently underway, making payments of identified enforceable obligations and disposing of redevelopment assets and properties. As in most cases, either the city or county that created the RDA became its successor agency.

On February 1, 2012, the County of Ventura chose to become the “Successor Agency to the Former Redevelopment Agency of the County of Ventura” (Successor Agency) for the purpose of “unwinding” the activities of the former Redevelopment
Agency. The County Executive Office serves as the staff to the Successor Agency and provide support to the appointed Oversight Board.

The dissolution provisions of ABx1 26 additionally required the formation of an Oversight Board, comprised of seven members each, to oversee the actions and decisions of the Successor Agency. Direction was also given to Oversight Boards to wind down the affairs of the former RDA in an expeditious manner aimed at maximizing the benefit to all taxing entities.

Oversight Board Members were appointed to the local “Oversight Board of the Former Redevelopment Agency of the County of Ventura” and they held their first Board Meeting on April 27, 2012.

Pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 34179, subdivision (j), commencing on July 1, 2018, the local Oversight Board ceased to exist and was replaced by the “Ventura County Consolidated Oversight Board” (VCCOB). Their first Board Meeting was held on September 26, 2018.

On June 27, 2012, as part of the FY 2012-13 state budget package, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB 1484. The primary purpose of this bill was to make technical and substantive amendments to the Dissolution Act based on experience to-date at the state and local level in implementing that act. As a budget “trailer bill,” AB 1484 took immediate effect upon signature by the Governor.

ABx1 26 
Click on link above for the Assembly Bill ABx1 26

AB 1484 
Click on link above for the Assembly Bill AB 1484

Housing Conservation Program Guidelines 
Click on the link above to for the Piru Housing Conservation Program Guidelines

For further information on the Piru Redevelopment Area or the Successor Agency of the Former Redevelopment Agency of the County of Ventura, contact Mary Ann Guariento at MaryAnn.Guariento@Ventura.org