Measure A modeled on Ventura predecessor

Posted May 8, 2007

By DAWN WITHERS

Those wondering how Measure A could shape growth in Monterey County might want to look about 250 miles to the south.

In 1998, Ventura County voters passed their own general plan initiative to protect agriculture and provide more housing in this Southern California
county, an effort that's become a template for dozens of other county growth initiatives throughout the state.


Measure A, which appears on Monterey County's June 5 special election ballot, was modeled after the Ventura initiative, said Chris Fitz, executive director of
LandWatch Monterey County, a slow-growth group that helped craft Measure A.

The Ventura County initiative locked in existing land-use designations in the unincorporated county and requires a public vote to change them, said Karen
Schmidt, executive director of Save Our Open-Space and Agriculture Resources, which worked on the 1998 SOAR initiative for Ventura County.

Similar to the SOAR effort, Monterey County's general plan initiative would require any development in the unincorporated county outside Pajaro, Castroville, Fort Ord, Boronda and Chualar to be approved by a vote
of the people, with few exceptions.

According to the SOAR Web site, the 1998 initiative was modeled after the Napa Valley, California Initiative that passed in 1990.

"In my experience, even people within the development community agree that SOAR has helped protect what most people who live here value about Ventura County - the fact that it does have open space, and there are distinct boundaries between cities," Schmidt said.

As for the growth measure's impact on the agricultural industry in Ventura County, Rex Laird, chief executive officer of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said it's been "negligible" in terms of agriculture staying viable and growing.

Laird, however, said the Farm Bureau objected to the initiative, calling ballot-box planning a terrible idea that asks voters to make decisions on complicated
growth issues they are not equipped to address.

"I can't imagine a worse way of doing planning than what is being proposed in Monterey County," he said.

Central Coast agricultural groups agree, saying the initiative infringes on the rights of property owners and would cripple growers' ability to adapt to
changing market demands. Construction of a new processing facility on agricultural land, for instance, would require an expensive, countywide
political fight, they say.

Contact Dawn Withers at withers@thecalifornian.com.