Oxnard Is Target of Housing Lawsuits : Courts: County’s largest city is accused of having blueprint for construction that violates state law.

A coalition of law firms sued the city of Oxnard Friday, seeking to halt nearly all future development citywide until officials create a state-certified housing plan to shelter the poor.

Two lawsuits, filed back-to-back Friday in Ventura County Superior Court on behalf of six low-income residents, allege that the city’s blueprint for housing construction violates state law.

In addition, the lawsuits attack two recently approved development projects, alleging that they fail to provide enough low-income housing.

The suits also allege that the city has maintained housing policies that discriminate against low-income households, large families and ethnic minorities.

“The city has established a pattern and practice of not providing housing for poor people, made clear by looking at development over the last 14 years,” said Eileen McCarthy, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance. “It’s imperative that action be taken now to stop these continued practices and policies.”

Both lawsuits name as defendants the city of Oxnard and all five City Council members. One lawsuit also names Laguna Pacific Development, the Montecito developer of a 216-house project in northwest Oxnard called Patterson Park.

The other suit names 12 property owners in the Northeast Community Specific Plan, a 737-acre development of homes, shops and schools approved by the City Council earlier this year.

Both projects provided some low-income housing, but attorneys argue it is not enough.

Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig said he had not seen the lawsuits but is confident that the city’s housing policies comply with state law.

“The City Council is mindful and conscientious about trying to provide housing for all people in the city of Oxnard,” Gillig said. “However, if we can’t resolve this amicably, I guess we’ll have to resolve it in court.”

A spokeswoman for Laguna Pacific Development said the Oxnard project had been sold to R.W. Hertel & Sons Inc. Company spokesman Ron Hertel declined comment. Several landowners in the Northeast Community could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuits--filed by Oxnard-based California Rural Legal Assistance, Channel Counties Legal Services Assn., and three other firms--come at a time when the city has shown renewed interest in providing affordable housing.

In March, the Oxnard City Council approved a 32-unit low-income housing project in the city’s downtown district. And most recently, city leaders established a committee to guide the affordable housing effort.

But attorneys who filed the lawsuits said that despite the city’s concerns, council members have missed recent opportunities to truly beef up the city’s low-income housing stock.

“We have to resort to this because land is disappearing,” said Barbara Macri-Ortiz, a lawyer for Channel Counties Legal Services. “It’s no longer business as usual. We’ve got to resolve this problem and we’ve got to resolve it promptly and expeditiously.”

Oxnard is Ventura County’s largest city and one of its poorest, with a median family income of $38,700. The county median is $50,091.

Yet in the last 14 years, only 68 units of low-income housing have been built, according to the lawsuits. During that same period, thousands of houses valued at $200,000 or more have been built, the lawsuits said.

In addition, the Southern California Assn. of Governments set Oxnard’s “fair-share housing need” at 1,700 low-income units during the five-year period that ends this year. The city has built only 22 units during that five-year period.

“I bent over backwards to keep out of court with this city,” Macri-Ortiz said. “But the gloves are off now. If it takes a lawsuit to address this issue of housing, then that’s what we are going to do.”

At the heart of the lawsuits is the contention that Oxnard’s housing element, which sets goals for housing construction, is out of compliance with state law.

In March, 1992, state officials told the city that the housing element of Oxnard’s General Plan was deficient and therefore could not be certified. The lawsuits contend that the city has taken no steps to bring the planning document into compliance.

The housing element is key. The lawsuits ask that approvals for the Patterson Park project and the Northeast Specific Plan be reversed because the General Plan is invalid. The General Plan is invalid, according to the lawsuits, because the housing element is out of compliance.

The lawsuits seek to compel the city to prepare and adopt a housing element that has been certified by the state. Until that is done, the suits want the court to halt all commercial and residential projects that come before the city.

“Whatever we can accomplish, we have that duty to our clients,” Macri-Ortiz said. “They’ve been waiting a long time.”