Rebuilding Permit for Destroyed House Denied : Santa Paula: Council says the area near the airport, where a plane crash ruined the residence, should be cleared for safety and to let the city get state loans to buy the land.

The Santa Paula City Council on Monday rejected a resident’s request for permission to rebuild a house that was destroyed in a fiery plane crash in August, saying the area near the Santa Paula Airport should be cleared for safety reasons.

The vote was 4 to 1, with Councilman Alfonso Urias in the minority.

“These people have been caught between a rock and a hard place,” Urias said. “Those houses were there before the airport.”

Although the council expressed sympathy for the plight of homeowner Joe V. Garcia, they said the city had to reject his request in order to qualify for state loans to purchase the property.

“Although it’s sad one person will lose from this situation, if we approve the permit, everyone else in the city would lose as well” if any future accidents should occur, Councilwoman Robin Sullivan said.

Despite the sympathetic comments, Garcia criticized the decision, saying he had become another victim of the Aug. 27 midair collision of two planes that claimed the life of a Buttonwillow crop-duster.

“How come I can’t rebuild there?” Garcia asked. “How long will it be before I can get some money for my house?”

But city officials refused to bend, saying they were committed to the eventual clearing of a 1,200-foot safety zone created last year by the Ventura County Transportation Commission around the privately owned airport.

Garcia’s house was one of several dozen that lie within the inner safety zone. The application to rebuild the house he rented to a relative for $900 a month was rejected by the Airport Land Use Commission on Nov. 6.

Residents of the neighborhood, which is cut off from the rest of the city by the Santa Paula Freeway, have complained that planes come perilously close to their homes, occasionally even clipping television antennas and palm trees.

Garcia, who lived next door to the destroyed house, said he has become increasingly frustrated by efforts to receive insurance compensation for his loss. Insurers have told him they want to wait until blame for the crash is determined by the National Transportation Safety Board before agreeing to a final settlement.

Last month, the Ventura County Transportation Commission, which is made up of representatives from the county and its 10 cities, agreed to allow state funds approved for a noise-containment project at Camarillo Airport to be used instead by Santa Paula to buy the lots of Garcia and Rafael Rodriguez, the owner of a second home destroyed in the crash.

City Administrator Arnold Dowdy told the council Monday evening that the city could get funds to buy the property in four to six months.

To qualify for the state funds, the city of Santa Paula would have to ban any residential construction in the airport safety zone, said City Administrator Arnold Dowdy. A general plan amendment to eliminate new housing from the area is currently being written and will be presented to the council by February, he said.

City officials have expressed the desire to use state funds to eventually acquire all the property within the safety zone.