OJAI : Error on Permits Benefits Schools

A county clerical error that led to hundreds of building permits being issued in the Ojai Valley several years ahead of schedule has brought an unexpected windfall for the Ojai Unified School District.

The Ojai public schools received $669,000 in developers fees and $91,000 in interest from the county during the 1989-90 fiscal year, $345,000 more than had been expected, said Leo T. Molitor, assistant superintendent for business and administrative services.

In 1988, county supervisors adopted a moratorium on new subdivisions that would increase traffic on California 33. But the county’s planning division mistakenly allowed several hundred permits to be issued early.

“To our surprise, we had this rush of fees coming in during one year that we might have had over a four-year period,” Molitor said. “Now it’s slowing to a trickle because it’s getting harder to get the permits.”

The district expects to receive only $250,000 in fees during the next year, Molitor said. While more drops are expected in future years, he said the impact of less development could be softened by the trend toward building larger homes.

Developers fees are based on the square footage of new homes and are earmarked by state law for a special account for new school buildings.

The Ojai district’s windfall will help pay off its current debt of $586,000, the result of buying a dozen relocatable schoolrooms over recent years to ward off classroom overcrowding.

“We’ve added relocatables at every elementary school so far,” Molitor said. There are three each at Meiners Oaks and Mira Monte elementary schools and one at both Topa Topa and Summit elementary schools. “The $91,000 in interest on this revenue in one year is almost enough to pay for one relocatable,” he said.

But the windfall will not be felt by one fourth-grade class at San Antonio Elementary School for several months. The class will have to continue meeting in the school’s multipurpose room until Ojai’s newest relocatable classroom can be delivered in late October.

San Antonio Principal Joseph DeVito, an Ojai city councilman, said the school will make the best of the situation until the new classroom arrives.

“It really crowded us last year because we had to put our library on the stage with our computer lab,” DeVito said.