Solstice Miracles and The City of Ojai

A Little Bit of Council and a Lot of Love - Ojai City Council Series Part XIV

Snowy Ojai - Photo Credit - Nora Herold

The Solstice will be exact at 7:28pm Pacific Time tonight, December 21st, 2023.

We’ll be gathering on Zoom at 12:00pm Pacific time today for our annual Solstice event.
Details and registration are here
Registration includes the recording of the event.
If you miss registering and want to grab the recording, you can get it here on my site

This is Part XIV of my continuing series on Ojai Politics. (If you’re just coming into this series, you can start here with Part I - Pluto Misogyny Showdown at City Hall)

Magic happened on Monday night at City Hall. Suddenly, it seemed, although there was nothing sudden about this as it’s been an ongoing issue since 2007, two developers and the council came together and brokered a deal/settlement agreement down to the wire due to new housing laws going into effect in California on January 1, 2024. What is good for larger populated environments does not exactly work for our small town. The state’s one-size-fits-all approach to housing, while created with the best of intentions, could have had a negative impact on our wildlife, character, and way of life here in Ojai where this particular series of developments is concerned.

Residents in the lower income brackets who have been under the threat of no-fault evictions from their homes due to a proposed redevelopment, no longer are. They may remain for as long as they want, and if renovations need to be done on their unit they will be moved to another comparable unit at the same rent. Buildings that were going to be knocked down no longer are, and more affordable rentals will be the net result of this agreement than the agreement that had been negotiated by our former city council along with the declaration of one of the properties as a historical landmark.

The developers get some wins as well with the ability to build some new market-rate units and an additional property added into the mix. With this agreement along with the Cabrillo Development Agreement, Ojai is about set to meet the state’s requirements for affordable housing.

We thought we were gathering to hear the council vote on the retroactive extension of permits. They were in a closed session when we arrived, a closed session which lasted an hour longer than scheduled, leaving the community in the dark as to when we would see them and what the heck was even happening.

They filed in and the specifics of the deal were dropped. We sat there, stunned, processing a huge shift in intention for being there and a huge win for the valley.

It felt like a sea change in the best of ways and our current council, every single one of them, deserves huge props for this achievement. They answered the community’s questions, patiently and thoroughly, with the lawyer they brought in to assist, Sunny Soltani, acting as an incredible asset, scrapping the regularity of our council processes and showing up for everyone there and every question asked as the night wore on.

The vote by the council was unanimous in acceptance of the settlement agreement with the developers, and something that has long hung over our heads with the threat of evictions and multiple lawsuits has been suddenly resolved for the benefit of the community.

My gratitude to Mayor Stix, Mayor Pro Tem Francina, Councilmember Lang, Councilmember Rule, Councilmember Whitman, City Attorney Matthew Summers, Attorney Sunny Soltani, city staff, and those in the community of Ojai who pushed and pushed and would not back down, forcing a referendum on the ballot which eventually was nullified as the developer pulled their original plans and threatened to sue, paving the way for this settlement.

This outcome, while perhaps not what everyone exactly wanted and lobbied for, is a testament to community action and involvement. The latest news is that the developer/property manager is buying infrared space heaters for units that have long been without heaters due to the conversation at the meeting and a direct request from The Mayor that the tenants get heat.

Read Part XV Here

On a personal note, my first client of the year also happened to be my last. He is a professional writer whom I highly respect. I am digging the bookend symmetry in a year where I finally broke free with my writing. His presence in my life this year clearly has affected me.

In my view, the power of this kind of magic is one of the reasons we come to this world. We are One separated into a myriad of pieces seeking our way back to the One. When these connections happen and are acknowledged by all participants the love that we are is magnified.

I am off to prepare for our Solstice event. We had another highly dramatic event at city hall last night which I’ll be writing about over the next couple of days. Let me just say this, the longest night of the year was long indeed as the shadows came out of the woodwork. We also had a thunderstorm here very early this morning, the likes of which I have never experienced here in Ojai. Lightning struck very near to our home. No one in Ojai slept through the night. I welcome the return of the light today.