Carl E. Morehouse, AICP
Councilmember
A resident of San Buenaventura since 1986, Carl Morehouse is in his third term on the City Council after initially being seated in December 1999. Carl served as Deputy Mayor from 2003 to 2005, and most recently as Mayor from 2005 to 2007 at the close of his second term.
In October 2007, the California Chapter of the American Planning Association (CCAPA) awarded Carl the Distinguished Leadership Award for an Elected Official.
Carl's commitment to the City began prior to be elected to the City Council. He was involved in the development of the Downtown Specific Plan of 1995, and served on the facilities and venues committee for the Community Cultural Plan of 1992. Until his election in 1999, Carl served on the City's "Seize the Future" citywide visioning process Citizen Outreach Committee, and several key sub-committees. He also served on the city's Historic Preservation Committee.
Aside from his involvement with City committees, Carl is an advocate for the principals of sustainable development. Carl devoted a fair amount of time to the Sustainability Council of Ventura County at its inception. He also helped facilitate the formation of "The Faulkner House Group," a multi-stakeholder group of individuals who met to share ideas and issues with regard to land use in Ventura County. Additionally, Carl was instrumental in the creation of the Ventura County Civic Alliance, a multi-stakeholder group examining the "three E's" (economy, environment, social equity) of the sustainability model countywide.
While on the Council, Carl has been an advocate of affordable housing resulting in an inclusionary component required for all new housing developments to provide a small proportion of affordable units during construction. He has also advocated strongly for pedestrian and transit oriented development and has been a strong voice for a defining multi-modal transit center downtown to accommodate trains, buses, taxis and bicycling opportunities. Furthermore, Carl has been an outspoken leader on civic engagement ensuring public involvement in all local government decisions, especially regarding land use. To that end, he led efforts to increase public notification of certain development proposals by requiring proposed development sites to have on-site signage identifying the proposed development and its public hearing dates and locations.
Carl has worked as a land use planner for over 30 years, most recently for the County of Ventura as a project planner for over 20 years (retiring December 2006). During his employment with the County, from January 1995 to June 1996, Carl worked under contract to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) as a liaison to SCAG’s sub-regions. Following that he was contract staff for a year to the Ventura Council of Governments (VCOG) where he developed a series of countywide forums on developing "Livable Communities," that demonstrated the values and techniques for stopping suburban sprawl. As a City Councilmember, Carl served as the chair of VCOG in 2007 and is a voting member of the Regional Council at SCAG.
Carl earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Purdue University and has a Masters Degree in Public Affairs with concentrations in both Urban Planning and City Administration from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He presently runs his own land use-consulting firm, specializing in promoting sustainable planning and governmental affairs.
He is happily married to Janna Minsk, who is a successful Urban Planner. They have no children.
In his spare time, Carl enjoys biking, hiking, playing guitar and singing, drawing, painting, and cooking. He also enjoys martial arts, which he has studied off and on for over 35 years.