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City approves Ojai Valley Inn monitoring-well permit; staff and OBGMA say wells are for irrigation monitoring, not production
Summary
The City Council approved an application from the Ojai Valley Inn for five shallow monitoring wells to gather irrigation and groundwater data. Staff and the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OBGMA) told the council the wells are for monitoring only; any production well would require separate permitting and review.
The Ojai City Council voted unanimously to approve a monitoring-well permit for the Ojai Valley Inn, allowing the applicant to install five shallow wells to gather groundwater data related to irrigation efficiency.
Principal Planner Maura Macaluso (presenting as Ms. Palmer) told the council the permits are for monitoring wells about 30 feet deep and are distinct from production wells, which would be substantially deeper and require separate county and city approvals. Macaluso said staff included the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OBGMA) in the review and received a supporting letter from OBGMA.
The project involves multi-jurisdictional review: city municipal code requires a city permit for wells (the staff report cited Ojai Municipal Code section 7-3.204), and the County of Ventura and OBGMA will also act. Macaluso told the council the city is considering an ordinance amendment to remove a duplicative city-level well permit requirement in deference to OBGMA and state groundwater law (the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act), but that change was not yet adopted and staff did not want to delay the applicant’s monitoring work.
Members of the public spoke during the hearing. Eric Ryder referenced recent research and requested the council consider public health literature in decisions affecting golf courses and irrigation; another resident urged recycling and reuse of irrigation water. Council members and staff emphasized that the approved permit is limited to monitoring and that any future production well would require separate county permitting, OBGMA review and a return to the city.
The council moved to approve the monitoring-well permit; a roll-call recorded all council members voting yes.
Ending: The permit allows the Ojai Valley Inn to install five approximately 30-foot monitoring wells for data collection on irrigation efficiency; any future proposal to use groundwater for irrigation or domestic supply would require separate county and OBGMA approvals and a new city review.
