Ojai council hears decades-long cabin village debate, approves case management contract and several land-use and permitting items

The Ojai City Council met in open session for its first 2025 meeting and took a series of actions and directional votes on homeless services, land-use matters and an introductory energy reach-code proposal while members of the public devoted much of the night to a prolonged debate over the proposed cabin village site at the city public works yard.

Council members voted to authorize an initial one-year professional services agreement for two case managers with Help of Ojai to support people currently living in the city’s tent encampment and to prepare residents for permanent housing. The $145,000 contract is funded from the state Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) grant the city received for cabin-village–related activities; the council approved the contract 4–1 (Council member Meng voted no). Help of Ojai staff and volunteers told council the immediate goal is intensive case management and helping people access benefits and mental-health services while the longer-term shelter project is developed.

The council also voted to uphold a planning commission decision to approve a conditional use and design-review permit for outdoor events at the Capri Hotel, but added two conditions recommended by staff after a community meeting: (1) event parking must be coordinated so that on-site overflow parking fills front spaces first before the rear lot, and (2) hotel staff must monitor the nearby Golden West neighborhood during early events to identify immediate parking impacts and report back if changes are needed. The council’s action preserves the planning commission’s limits on number of events, hours and attendance and adds the parking/monitoring requirements.

On a separate, noticed public hearing the council approved a well permit for a residential well at 300 Longhorn Lane. Staff said the new well replaces a previously shared well and does not increase the household’s net extraction from the Ojai groundwater basin; the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency and Ventura County previously reviewed the application. The well permit passed on a unanimous roll call vote.

During public comment the cabin village matter dominated. Dozens of residents and business owners spoke, arguing passionately for and against placing permanent supportive cabins at the city’s public works yard. Proponents emphasized the humanitarian need and urged the council to use the ERF funds to house 30 people; opponents said the maintenance yard is the wrong site and urged further study of alternatives. Several speakers asked the council to employ mediation to narrow community divisions. Council members did not take a site-selection vote at this meeting; earlier the council had continued the related agenda item and set a special meeting for Feb. 4 to continue closed-session negotiations and public discussion.

The council approved the professional services agreement for Help of Ojai by roll call (4 yes, 1 no), and members said they will continue pressing the county to participate financially and operationally in behavioral-health and housing services. City staff and Help of Ojai stressed the funding is from the state ERF grant and would pay for immediate outreach, enrollment and stabilization while longer-term funding and the shelter design are resolved.

The council also directed staff to solicit wider community input and return after the council’s goal-setting work before proceeding with adoption of an ordinance that would require energy-efficiency measures at certain residential renovations. That measure was introduced for first reading during the meeting; after discussion the council voted to ask staff to gather additional community feedback and return for further consideration. Staff said the draft “FlexPath” approach — developed with Clean Power Alliance technical support — would set point-based compliance paths for projects above 300 square feet (an 8-point threshold) and above 1,000 square feet (a 19-point threshold), while including exemptions for emergency repairs, historic structures and other limited circumstances. Councilmembers and public commenters debated timing, equity for homeowners and renters, enforcement and whether fire-hardening requirements should take priority over new energy measures.

Other procedural items: the council approved a housekeeping adjustment to the meeting calendar (vacation-meeting dates) and completed its annual slate of council appointments to regional boards and commissions.

What’s next: staff will bring back more specific input about the energy reach code after the council’s goal-setting session, and the cabin-village agenda items will continue at the special meeting the council scheduled for Feb. 4. The Help of Ojai contract is effective immediately and staff said case managers will begin intake and HMIS entry work to support placements as soon as possible.

(Notes: the city hosted a closed session prior to this meeting on ongoing litigation and reported no reportable action; the council recorded roll-call votes for several actions during the session.)