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Fillmore officials may resort to Plan B
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More from FillmoreA local man's successful claim of property ownership is forcing Fillmore city officials to consider revising their plans to improve B Street.
They say a block-long strip of land along B Street is private property, not public right of way, as the city and Ventura County had assumed for years.
Depending on the outcome of negotiations with the landowner, the new version of the street might be a scaled-down, two-lane road with a slightly different alignment between Second and Third streets. That could force motorists to curve slightly to the west to avoid driving on the private strip of land.
Officials say the obvious alternative is for the city to buy the 30-foot-wide property. But they also say it could cost $400,000, which the city does not have.
The ownership issue came to light after the city took steps to improve B Street, including building a crossing over the railroad tracks south of Second Street to provide a new route to the northern part of the city.
Herbert Haase, a Fillmore resident who owns the property on the east side of B Street between Second and Third streets, raised the ownership question. His lawyer provided evidence that Haase also is the owner of the land along the street, adjacent to his orange grove.
"It was determined that the land is owned by Mr. Haase," city Public Works Director Bert Rapp said Tuesday as the City Council considered the issue.
"So the city could purchase the land from Mr. Haase — it would double the cost of the project — or we could build two lanes of traffic and sidewalk on the westerly side of B to completely avoid Mr. Haase's property."
Councilman Scott Lee voiced concern that the street would not look as attractive as intended if the land is not purchased.
"It would look ugly," he said.
The council planned to pay for the street project with $400,000 that is Fillmore's share of revenue from state Proposition 1B. Approved by California voters in November 2006, the ballot measure authorized the state to issue bonds worth $19.9 billion to fund state and local transportation improvements.
Joseph Kern, Haase's attorney, told the council that his client hopes to negotiate with the city to avoid problems.
"Mr. Haase has made some concessions, some ideas on how to avoid some contortions," Kern said. "I think there is a solution to the problem which will make a real street out of B Street without a contorted kind of track."
City officials said if the property is developed in the future, the council will be able to require the developer to dedicate the right of way and build a normal street at no cost to the public. Kern said Haase has no plans to develop the property.
Haase did not return phone calls from The Star.
Officials said the city must assume Haase owns the property because there is no documentation that the Ventura County Board of Supervisors took action to accept the dedication of the right of way between 1888 and 1913, which the law requires as evidence that it is public right of way.
Councilwoman Cecilia Cuevas said the city should have identified Haase's ownership before the project began.
"This is the first time that this has come up in the city of Fillmore," Rapp replied.
The city will make a formal application for the Proposition 1B funding and attempt to enter talks with Haase, officials said.
B Street's connection and rail crossing would provide an additional route for fire and police personnel, who have access to north Fillmore only on A and C streets. If fire personnel go to north Fillmore on B Street, they could cut response time by one minute, depending on the location, according to officials.
Posted by suejones on March 29, 2008 at 12:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Way to go Fillmore City Council. Let's waste all this money to make improvements without completely doing your homework on who owns what. No wonder the citizens of Fillmore have no faith in their city council.
The crossing at B street was also, in the future, to help ease congestion in North Fillmore when they were going to build the 800+ high density home there. That was the real intention of the crossing not to save a minute in response times for emergency personnel.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on March 29, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree it doesn't surprise me a bit!
Posted by Voter on March 29, 2008 at 7:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does anyone at The Fillmore City Hall know what they are doing?
What is wrong with going through the normal practice of Checks and Balances. Or simple a check list, lets see ohh " A Title Search"!!!!
They just thought it was Public Access.
Someone owns the land Dughhh!!!!
Oh lets see, the project was in a contract of Time and Material. The Contractor had no time limit and an open check book. No wonder the project isn't finished. The city is lucky it isn't. That would cost even more.
Wait a minute, they don't know now what the cost will be and it is almost completed. GREAT!!!!
This is the same Engineer that built the $700,000 Bus Canopy that a Diesel truck ran into, oh did I fail to say the clearance was lower the the hight of the Diesel and the Canopy stretched into the middle of the street.
The same Engineer didn't think about the Clearance of the Canopy when it was designed.
Fillmore needs to Fire this failure of an Engineer. My goodness he is costing this City more than the projects.
Oh and adding to the Law Suits!!!!
Posted by Terly on March 31, 2008 at 11:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe we can add the cost of this mistake to our water and sewer bill as well!
Posted by vcsexplorer11 on March 31, 2008 at 6:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The obvious thing to do is make the ugly two lane road. As soon as traffic starts moving down the road it will devalue the surrounding property (as will time since values are on their way down). The city can buy the property in a few years at half the value.
Patience is a virtue!!!
But, since the City Council has not made wise financial decisions in the past why would they start now?
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 1, 2008 at 6:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Waiting may not do any good at all. Its all up to Mr.Haase on how much he wants to sell the land for. He doesn't have to sell it if he doesn't want to so they better make him a good offer !!!!
Posted by latinmale38 on April 1, 2008 at 1:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
as a citizen of Fillmore my entire 48 yrs..and as a decendent from Fillmore citizens from as far back as 1929, i hope Mr. haase doesnt sell. my family, friends and i have seen the city of Fillmore fall to money hungry outsiders. seems like we cant even walk the dog anymre with out having to buy a permit,.."exagerating i know but you all get the picture"... Mr Haase please dont sell, make the city council fix their own F$%^ up.
in the end we all will probably end up paying for it but atleast we arent getting it shoved down our throats like the idiotic building of more low housing which cost us the mini train
Posted by AnnaWhaat on April 6, 2008 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
latinmale38, I agree!!!!!
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