The Mohawk Connector — Still Pending?

If you're new to this, here's the piece that matters most, in plain terms.

What was supposed to happen. Ventura's General Plan calls for Cedar Street to connect north to Mohawk Avenue. That connection is what would give this neighborhood a second way out toward Dakota Drive — a major thoroughfare the City's own Emergency Evacuation Plan designates for Zone 1. When the City reviewed this project in November 2023, it told the developer twice to build it.

What the developer asked for instead. In letters dated May 2024 and September 2024, Ravello Holdings' attorneys asked the City to excuse them from building the connector. They made the request under state density bonus law, which lets projects that include affordable housing seek exemptions from local requirements. Their stated reason is cost — connecting Cedar to Mohawk would require a bridge across the San Joaquin channel, and they describe skipping it as a substantial savings to the project.

That's the request. It has been pending for over two years. We've asked the City whether it's still live and haven't heard back.

What's proposed in its place. A gated, emergency-only route onto School Canyon Road — a private oil-field road running along the north edge of the site. In June 2025, attorneys for Aera Energy (now California Resources Corporation), which holds the easement and uses the road around the clock for heavy truck traffic, told the City in writing that using it for residential emergency access would conflict with the express terms of that easement. As far as the public record shows, that objection has never been withdrawn.

So what are we left with? Cedar Street. Twenty-six feet curb to curb, roughly thirteen feet of clear travel space once cars are parked on both sides — for 117 new homes plus everyone already here.

Where this gets decided. The City is finishing a Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration — the environmental review for this project. It's expected within weeks, and a public comment period opens when it's released.

Two things to watch for in it. First, the City required the developer to prepare a traffic study that specifically evaluates emergency egress from this neighborhood during an evacuation. That study appears to have been submitted in March 2025, and we have asked for a copy. Second, whether the environmental document addresses the connector request at all, or treats the gated oil-road access as a settled second exit.

Why your comment matters. State law protects housing projects. The City can only require the connector — or condition the project on real emergency access — if it can point to evidence in the record that the alternative creates a genuine public safety problem. Comments filed during the review period are that record. It's how firsthand knowledge of this street gets in front of the Planning Commission before a decision, not after.

If nobody comments, the record shows a project nobody objected to.

We're not opposing housing. We're asking for the connector the General Plan already requires — Cedar Street north to Mohawk Avenue, feeding directly onto Dakota Drive, which the City's own Emergency Evacuation Plan names as a major thoroughfare for Zone 1.

A real second way out of a Very High Fire Severity Zone, on a public street, to a major thoroughfare the City has already designated for evacuation.