Supervisors Back Monument Plan

Representatives from local veterans and Chumash organizations presented a plan Tuesday to build what they say would become the nation’s first joint Native American-Veterans memorial in Ventura.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation Tuesday expressing its support for a 400-bed veterans home and the adjacent monument.

During the board meeting, Greg Sandoval, a leader among local Chumash, showed the supervisors a model of the proposed memorial. The circular monument would feature a seven-foot-tall wall with the names of fallen veterans along with names of deceased Native Americans.

Chumash leaders, veterans and developers signed an agreement in June that allowed developer Wittenberg-Livingston to proceed with plans for a housing development near Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue in Ventura. In the deal, the developers donated 22 acres that could be used for a proposed veterans’ retirement home and another four acres to build the monument and preserve sacred Chumash burial grounds.