Ventura County oversight board approves City of Santa Paula request to dissolve former redevelopment agency

The Ventura County Consolidated Oversight Board voted 4-0 on May 14 to adopt a resolution approving the City of Santa Paula's request to formally dissolve its former redevelopment agency.

The action came after a city representative told the board the successor agency had sold remaining properties and completed required bond payments. "Since that time, they've sold their properties and paid off their enforceable obligations," Joy Atsuki, counsel to the Santa Paula DLA, said during the meeting.

The board's approval followed a staff briefing and a short presentation from Atsuki. She said the board previously approved a "last and final ROPS," or Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule, in 2020 that called for the final bond payment in December 2024, and that payment was made as planned. "In 2020, this board approved a last and final ROPS, which called for the final payment on the bonds to be in December of 2024. That occurred, as it was supposed to," Atsuki said.

Atsuki told the board the successor entity completed remediation of a theater property using funds from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund (RPTTF) and sold that site; the Paseo property was also sold after a longer process. She said the city reviewed administrative costs and reconciliations and determined no amendment to the last and final ROPS was required, so the city filed a request for dissolution.

A board member moved to adopt the City of Santa Paula's resolution and another member seconded. The board voted unanimously, 4-0, to adopt the resolution.

Board discussion included brief questions about the disposition of the properties. When asked whether the theater remained a theater or had been converted, a board member noted reports that it may have been converted to a coffee shop before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Atsuki said she had not followed up to confirm current uses.

The vote reduces the number of cities with outstanding successor-agency matters before the oversight board. The board did not schedule a firm date for its next meeting and said a June meeting on the calendar may be canceled if no business requires it.

For the record, the board filed a public comment letter received before the meeting and approved a minutes review from its January 22, 2025 meeting earlier in the session.