Palm Vista project discussed – Tri County Sentry – Tri County Sentry

Oxnard– The Community Services Public Safety Housing & Economic Development Committee, Tuesday, February 22, reviewed a firm-fixed-price construction contract with MJ Management for the Palm Vista Senior Housing Project on C Street.

THE contract is for $379,560 and will use funds previously appropriated from the 2019 Capital Funds Grant.

The improvements will make the location compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Section 504.

Housing Director Emilio Ramirez presented the item to the committee, and he said the improvements would occur throughout Oxnard.

“Because there was a demolition of a substantial number of units in the Colonia Village over the past 10 years, we need to amend the number of units that are complying with section 504 throughout the system because we lost the Section 504 compliance at Colonia Village,” he said. “We are proposing to undertake the improvement of 44 units system-wide over the course of a variety of projects. Right now, what we’re looking for is the ability to provide for five of the units to be available at Palm Vista.”

He said the location is owned and operated by the Oxnard Housing Authority. Units 105 through 109 will be improved.

“The path of travel needs to get amended in order for compliance of the ADA and 504 compliance,” he said.

Councilman Oscar Madrigal said the video showed that five units would be upgraded to make what they can because so many units were lost over the last 10 years from the demolition of Las Cortes in La Colonia.

“I think this is a great idea. Anything to help out our community,” he said. “How much are we lacking when it comes to Section 504 Housing and meeting some of the ADA Housing we can provide for our residents?”

Ramirez said because of the demolition at La Colonia Village, the city is 24 ADA units short system-wide.

“We are presenting a series of conversions throughout the public housing system that we own throughout the city,” he said. “We’ll be presenting other items like this one in the future.”

Mayor John Zaragoza asked if Section 504 is part of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“It requires that we as a public housing authority make at least five percent of the units that we have accessible to persons with disabilities,” Ramirez said. “Since we demolished 260 units at Colonia Village, within those 260 units, we had accessibly-modified units. Now we have to replace them through the balance of the system.”

He noted they lost 44 units, but the requirement to replace those units also went down because they lost 260 units with the demolition.

“Now, the obligation to replace is 24 units,” he said. “At Palm Vista, we are going to be remodeling five units. We’re also converting, I believe, three units at Pleasant Valley. We are converting other public housing sites to create the 24.”

The item will move forward to the full city council without a recommendation because they could not formally act on the action.