Santa Paula Blog

The Santa Paula Fire Department has been working for several weeks with
the County of Ventura on the removal of vegetation around Santa Paula
Hospital. Because of the hilly terrain, the Fire Department has
arranged for a controlled burn of the cut piles of vegetation (rather
than removing the vegetation piles) on a burn day designated by the
Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. It appears that
conditions are appropriate for the burn to take place tomorrow,
Wednesday December 28, 2005. Fire Department officials will be
monitoring the burn. Questions should be directed to Acting Assistant
Fire Chief Kevin Fildes at 933-4265

The press office at the North Pole has forwarded to me for my blog a
release that will interest all Santa Paulans:

A Special Message from Santa Claus:

The elfs here at the North Pole have come up with a new route for my
sleigh this year that will have me passing over Santa Paula just before
I begin my around the world adventure on Christmas Eve. I have always
loved coming to Santa Paula, the only place in the world children leave
me sliced oranges and avocados in addition to cookies and milk.

Look for me in the skies above Santa Paula on Saturday night between
6:45 PM and 7:15 PM.

The elfs are helped with guiding my sleigh through Ventura County by
Charles McLaughlin at Aspen Helicopters in Oxnard. Santa Paula Mayor
Rick Cook and Limoneira Company CEO Harold Edwards also helped make sure
that Santa Paula was on my early route in 2005. These three boys have
been especially good this year.

Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy 2006 to all in Santa Paula!

S.C.

Thursday night 700 guests visited the Community Center to be a part of the 10th Annual "Come See Santa". Santa Claus sat in his chair and listen to all the kids request for a few hours. 300 polaroid pictures were taken with Santa Claus and given to the children and their families. The Polaroids were FREE. The Community Services Department would like to thank Santa Paula Healthcare for providing the film and decorations. The night was fun for all the kids and families who attended. Thanks to Ed Mount, Brian Yanez and staff who made the event possible.

The City of Santa Paula and the Santa Paula Weed and Seed Program will
be sponsoring the 7th annual "Santa and Me" Holiday Program on Saturday,
December 17, 2005 at the Santa Paula Boys and Girls Club, 1400 E.
Harvard, Santa Paula. The event runs from 11 AM to 2 PM and allows
children from Santa Paula to come meet Santa and receive a gift.
However, what really makes the event interesting is that Santa arrives
on a Harley Davidson motorcycle and is escorting by at least fifty or
sixty other Harley riders. The motorcycle riders gather at the Santa
Paula Police Department at 10 AM, ride around Santa Paula for about an
hour and then arrive at the Boys and Girls Club. The motorcycles and
their riders decked out in their holiday best are something to see. For
more information, contact 933-0701.

The Santa Paula City Council will be holding its last scheduled meeting
for 2005 next week. This will be the Council's 46th meeting of the
year. That makes 25 regular meetings (no second meeting in August) and
21 special meetings. The Council will have met on 48 separate days in
2006 (December 5 meeting continued over three nights).

It has been a light year for the Council. In 2004, the City Council met
49 times and in 2003 47 times. Yikes!!

Beginning Tuesday, January 3, 2006, and continuing through Friday, January 14, 2006, the Fillmore & Western Railway Company will proceed to reconstruct the railway crossing at Peck Road, which will require the complete 24 hour closure of Peck Road at the Main Street intersection.

The City of Santa Paula will be holding a daylong planning workshop on
Saturday, January 21, 2006 at Isbell Middle School to develop a Master
Plan for developing a new Teen Center. Interested students and adults
are encouraged to attend an organizing meeting for the planning workshop
on Wednesday, December 14 at 4:00 PM at the City Council Chambers at
Santa Paula City Hall, 970 Ventura St.

For more information and/or to volunteer to help organize the workshop,
contact Wally Bobkiewicz at 933-4200 or wbobkiewicz@ci.santa-paula.ca.us

The Chamber of Commerce have announced the recipients of their annual awards to be presented at their annual dinner January 21:

Citizen of the Year - Doug Nelson
Business of the Year - ARP - Hozaphel company (Hozy's Restaurant)
Building of the Year - John and Susan Kulwiec's building at 854 E. Main Street, Santa Paula

Congratulations to all.

Kay Wilson-Bolton reports that Jim Garfield has been named owner and broker of the year by the Ventura County Coastal Assn. of Realtors, which serves all of West Ventura County. It is a wonderful honor and well deserved . Congratulations to Jim.

Winners of the annual holiday cookie and Main Street business window decorating contest were announced todayat the Oddfellows Hall at Davis and Main Streets. Next week marks the 100th anniversary of the construction of the hall.

Cookie contest winners: 1st Place: Estella Moreno, Oxnard; 2nd Place: Cheryl Baudizzon, Santa Paula; and 3rd Place: Spencer Davis, Ventura.

Winners of window decorating contest: 1st Place: Santa Paula Family Resource Center; 2nd Place: Salvation Army; 3rd Place: Santa Paula Coffee Company.

Our thanks to the judges for both contests: Councilmembers Mary Ann Krause and John Procter; Santa Paula Police Chief Steve MacKinnon; Ventura County Reporter Editor Stephanie Kinnear; and Ventura County Reporter Deputy Editor Stacey Wiebe.

The Santa Paula Optimist Christmas Parade will be replayed on Channel 10 on the following dates and times:
Thursday, December 8, at 6:30 pm
Sunday, December 11, at 12:00 pm
Tuesday, December 13, at 5:00 pm
Sunday, December 18, at 1:30 pm
Tuesday, December 20, at 3:00 pm
Thursday, December 22, at 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 24, at 10 am and 11 am

The Santa Paula City Council tonight approved the proposed Fagan Canyon
project. The Council approved a General Plan amendment for 2,155
housing units in the Centex controlled Phase I and 10 units in the Phase
II portion. Changes made this evening included setting the number of
deed restricted affordable units to 325 which include 215 affordable
rental units and 110 affordable for sale units. The Council also
required the Foothill Rd. extension to the proposed Fagan Canyon
Parkway, required a $100,000 payment for the study of a potential State
Highway 150 by-pass and accepted Centex's proposal for $500,000 toward
the installation of a artificial turf field at Teague Park. The project
approvals will receive second reading on December 19 and will be
effective thirty days after that.

The Santa Paula City Council met this evening on Fagan Canyon and did
not finish its deliberations. It will resume Wednesday evening at 6:30
PM at the Community Center to complete its work. The Council has asked
staff to work with Centex Homes to resolve issues regarding a Foothill
Road extension and the proposed affordable housing component of the
project along with some other miscellaneous issues.

The City Council elected Richard C. Cook Mayor and Ray C. Luna Vice Mayor this evening.

Monday, December 5
6:30 PM - City Council - LIVE

Tuesday, December 6
5:30 PM - City Council - Community Center - LIVE

Wednesday, December 7
TBA - City Council (if needed)

Thursday, December 8
6:00 PM - Playback of 12/5 Council Meeting and
Christmas Parade

Sunday, December 11
1:00 PM - Playback of 12/6 Council Meeting and
Christmas Parade

Monday, December 12
6:30 PM - Playback of 12/5 and 12/6 Council Meetings

Tuesday, December 13
6:00 PM - Playback of 12/7 Council Meeting (if held)

Wednesday, December 14
6:00 PM - Playback of 12/7 Council Meeting (if held)

The steering committee of the City and Limoneira met last night and
received an update from Limoneira on their plans for East Area One.
They are in the process of refining their master plan with an eye to
submitting a specific plan application to the City in April. The
steering committee will meet again on Wednesday January 25 at 6:30 PM in
the Council Chambers to see the nearly final version of the master plan.
In the meantime, City staff and the school districts will begin work on
developing a process for planning the 80 acres out that way for
community and educational purposes.