RENEWAL PLANNED FOR PIRU : NONPROFIT AGENCY TO CONSTRUCT HOPE, HOMES IN PIRU.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

The faded tarps spread across the roof of the charming little house on Center Street are tattered now, dancing in the wind as if mocking the feeble attempt at patching after nature had ensured the cottage could never be repaired.

Another battered house dating back to the '20s sits nearby, its walls buckling, weeds spreading from a rock-lined planter and poking through the crumbling floors.

The Northridge Quake destroyed about a dozen homes in Piru, a cubbyhole of a town off picturesque Highway 126 with about 2,500 residents. In the 2-1/2 years since, there hasn't been much money to rebuild. The ruined houses sag, their red tags now a pinkish gray, eyesores in neighborhoods of carefully tended modest homes.

``Houses were off their foundations, the buildings were all blocked off downtown,'' said Marty Robinson, Ventura County Deputy chief administrative officer in charge of community and economic development. ``Now, we've gotten some grants for downtown and some federal money for the Habitat project, and finally things are coming together and the town is rebuilding.''

Habitat for Humanity, the volunteer home-building agency that scoffs at red tape and ignores the word ``profit,'' is coming to Piru, bringing truckloads of lumber and hope.

Habitat plans 21 homes, one of its largest developments in Southern California and by far its largest endeavor in Ventura County. The organization will build on 4.5 acres of old orchard land, purchased by the county for $350,000 in federal emergency funding.

``The earthquake really hit Piru, but it didn't get much attention, probably because it's small and somewhat isolated,'' said Ralph Belknap, coordinating the site development for Habitat in Piru. ``The county has some federal quake money that could be spent only in areas with major impact from (the) quake. That money has been designated for us.''

Habitat began eyeing Piru a year after the quake. Volunteers found acreage, planted with citrus trees in 1901, but subdivided into tiny lots just in case the turn-of-the-century Los Angeles spread that far north.

``It was somebody who thought Piru was going to grow into some kind of metropolis,'' Belknap said.

Initial plans call for reconfiguring the 38 existing lots into 21, then building seven houses a year over the next three years. Belknap insists he's not being optimistic when he predicts 1,000 people will turn out to help. After all, 300 volunteers typically help to build just one house.

The county has advised Habitat to build three-, four- and five-bedroom houses to accommodate large Latino families in the area, Belknap said. Construction is scheduled to begin before the end of the year.

Applicants for the homes will be screened before they are approved to buy the low-cost, no-interest homes. When Habitat built a single home in Camarillo, 60 people applied, Belknap said.

Those who apply must show they have a need, show they can manage money, agree to be partners with Habitat and repay the organization with 500 hours of ``sweat equity.'' Also the homeowners must stipulate they will not sell their homes, but they can pass it on to their children, said Virgil Nelson, executive director emeritus of Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County.

The houses will be sold in the $60,000 to $70,000 range and paid for over 30 years. Habitat will maintain liens on the homes until they are paid off to ensure they aren't sold by original owners for profit.

Priority will go to applicants from Piru and nearby Fillmore who lost their houses in the quake. Applicants must meet a low-income requirement - making less than 50 percent of the average income for their size family in Ventura County. The median income for a family of four in the county is $58,000.

Piru families rendered homeless by the temblor have stayed in town for the most part, most moving in with relatives and keeping their jobs at the local orchards or the hillside oil fields, said Jeanne Warren of the Piru Neighborhood Council.

Warren, a tangelo farmer, is the only person on the record in opposition to the Habitat project. The land, she said, should be used for agriculture.

But Habitat officials contend the property will be developed no matter what. Their delay in acquiring it came because another developer was interested. And the county is pushing the effort to replace the fallen homes.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color in SAC and AV only) Jess Ordaz, who has lived in Piru for 40 years, will be getting some new neighbors from a joint Ventura County-Habitat for Humanity plan.

(2--ran in SAC and AV editions only--color in SAC only) Many homes damaged in the 1994 quake stay unrepaired in Piru.

Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News