At the Oct. 14 Ojai City Council meeting, a resident who identified himself as Mr. Stangler asked the council why it was acquiring the property at 503 South Venture and what the city intends to do with it.

“On the, meeting regarding the property at 503 South Venture, I have a question. Why? Is it because we have to?” Mr. Stangler said during the public comment period. He asked whether the purchase was connected to a lawsuit he described as involving “pickleball, the neighbors” and whether the acquisition was intended to settle or end litigation.

Mr. Stangler listed several possible futures for the parcel and posed concerns about city ownership. “Is it going to be for nonprofits? Is it gonna be for homeless? Is it gonna be for garden people? Is it gonna become an, city asset that we’re gonna have to take care of and maintain?” he said. He also raised a potential environmental concern, suggesting the house “seem[s] to be old enough for a possible underground tank if it was oil heat,” and recommended a site check.

The speaker also questioned financial motives and implications, saying the city might be taking on a mortgage he estimated at “$400,000 mortgage, or 500, whatever that number is” and asked whether the property could be flipped or sold. He raised other hypothetical uses, including selling it to recreational users, and made a rhetorical suggestion that the city manager might relocate to the property to reduce the city’s mortgage costs.

Mr. Stangler’s remarks were made during the public comment period immediately before the council recessed into a closed session; the council did not state a public outcome or take a recorded vote on the property during the open session. The meeting agenda had been approved earlier; the council then proceeded to the closed session listed on the agenda.

The city did not provide a response on the public record during the meeting to the specific questions Mr. Stangler raised about the origin of the acquisition, intended use, environmental assessment or the mortgage amount. No formal action regarding 503 South Venture was recorded in the transcript of the open session. The council’s subsequent closed session, as listed on the meeting agenda, could address matters that the city determined required confidentiality.

The citizen’s questions highlight several issues the council may need to address publicly if it pursues ownership: intended public uses, maintenance responsibilities if the parcel becomes a city asset, the property’s environmental condition, any litigation linkage, and the financial terms of acquisition. The council did not provide those clarifications during the open meeting.