ELECTIONS: CAMARILLO : City Council Campaigns Focus on Development, Financial Woes

At a time when environmental candidates are making strong political gains in Ventura County, slow-growth has become the buzzword in the Camarillo City Council election.

All but one of the eight candidates vying for three council seats on Nov. 6 have billed themselves as strong opponents of growth. The exception is Mayor Charlotte Craven, who says she supports moderate development.

Craven is seeking her second term on the five-member council. The other two seats up for grabs are those being vacated by council members Sandi Bush and Tom Martin, who aren’t seeking reelection.

Some of the candidates, most political novices, are pointing to the financial woes of the city as the second-most important issue of the campaign.

The city has been hit hard by state budget cuts, and the situation is expected to get worse. In addition, the city is recovering from a $25-million loss on bad investments in 1987.

Craven, 46, believes that, with her experience on the council, she can continue to guide the city through its financial problems. And despite other claims that the city is growing too rapidly, Craven says development is under control.

She said 400 building permits are issued annually under the city’s growth-control ordinance. Craven disagreed with comments by some slow-growth advocates that the number is too high.

“I think we have a very good city,” Craven said. “For people to say they don’t like the way the city has developed is to say they don’t like the city, and I don’t know why they are here. We have not allowed rampant development.”

Craven was elected to the council in 1986 and was appointed to a one-year term as mayor last December. Four years ago, her main concern was the city’s traffic problems, which she said the city is addressing through a traffic-management and road-construction plan.

Craven now lists air quality, water, landfill space, recycling and the city’s financial woes as her priorities. She said she opposes a proposal in the state Legislature to create regional governments to handle land-use planning, infrastructure planning and development in California.

Craven, along with other Camarillo City Council members, is urging all the cities in Ventura County to pull out of the Southern California Assn. of Governments and form a coalition with Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

If the city governments wait much longer, Craven said, they will be locked into SCAG and forced to abide by decisions that are geared more toward the urban counties.

William Q. Liebmann, a 39-year-old attorney and first-time council candidate, has also listed the regional government as one of his main concerns.

“If these proposals are enacted, we would no longer have the right to control the destiny of our own city,” Liebmann said. “We will all end up being controlled by politicians from Los Angeles or Sacramento. We must stop this power grab by the state Legislature.”

Liebmann also lists growth control as a main issue of his campaign and said he will work to preserve the farmland remaining in the city.

In a flyer Liebmann distributed to voters, he wrote: “The level of growth which has taken place in Camarillo in recent years should not and cannot be allowed to continue. . . . We are seeing our city slowly turn into Orange County.”

Liebmann has lived and worked in Camarillo for 12 years. He has served on the board of directors of both the Pleasant Valley Lions Club and the American Heart Assn. of Ventura County.

Candidate Joel D. Bonfiglio, a business and trusts attorney, said if he is elected he will ban construction of apartment and condominium complexes in Camarillo.

Bonfiglio, 32, said the high-density housing has caused traffic problems and crowded schools and should be eliminated. He said he also opposes future commercial development.

“Let’s not become another San Fernando Valley,” Bonfiglio said. “What I see in the San Fernando Valley is traffic congestion, confusion and a general disintegration of a quality of life.

“I would like to see Camarillo remain a family oriented community. . . . In order to do that, I feel Camarillo needs to continue to develop three- and four-bedroom housing tracts.”

Bonfiglio, who lives in the Mission Oaks area, said he hopes to give the eastern portion of Camarillo more representation on the council. “Past city councils have not had enough representation from eastern Camarillo,” he said.

Mike Creadick, a 43-year-old science teacher, has billed himself as a grass-roots candidate with a vast knowledge of environmental issues.

He adamantly supports preserving agricultural land in the city. “We need greenbelts within the city instead of a ring around the city,” Creadick said. “The city councils that have come before have failed to be strong enough when it comes to developers. I don’t think it is inevitable that we build on the farmland, and we should maintain it as long as possible.”

Creadick is the president of the Mission Oaks Homeowners Assn. and has fought to preserve the open space along the nearby Calleguas Creek. He has a master’s degree in biological sciences and has served on the citizens committee for the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District.

“We need more parks, less development and more intelligent uses of water resources,” Creadick said. “Right now, we need to slow development way, way down.”

Creadick says he also wants to increase sales tax revenue through additional support for the city’s merchants. If elected, he said he will initiate a “Shop in Camarillo” campaign, complete with a street fair in the central portion of town.

Stanley J. Daily, a harbor commissioner and former city councilman, has decided to run again for City Council because he says Camarillo is at a crossroads.

“Taking a look at the direction we’re going with the loss of agricultural land and open space, I wanted to get in there and get the city back on track,” Daily said.

If elected, Daily said one of his first orders of business would be to try to slow down growth in the Santa Rosa Valley, located just east of Camarillo.

Daily, 55, said that when he was on the council from 1964 to 1976, the city had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with the county that growth in the Santa Rosa Valley would be controlled.

But, Daily said, the county has not held up its end of the agreement, and the area is now bustling with development.

“Look at it now. It’s a travesty,” Daily said.

Daily is also running for reelection to the Port of Hueneme Harbor Commission. Some of Daily’s foes have questioned whether he should run for two boards at once. But the Ventura County counsel’s office said it sees no conflict of interest.

Daily, who was born and raised in Camarillo, is the director of activities at Hueneme High School.

Harvey Eisenberg, a retired operations administrator who ran unsuccessfully for City Council two years ago, said if elected he would call for a five-year plan to identify Camarillo’s projected revenue sources and expenses.

“Right now, we’re taking it one year at a time,” said Eisenberg, 58. “We’ve got to plan for the future.”

Eisenberg said he wants to slow down development.

“We’ve got to really slow down and look where we’re going,” he said.

Charles (Ken) Gose, a retired naval aviator and intelligence officer, has adopted a Harry Truman quote as his campaign slogan: “The buck stops here.”

Gose said if elected he would closely watch the city’s finances and work to preserve agricultural uses.

“As a farm boy from the hills of east Tennessee, I will fight to preserve the farmland and the greenbelt,” Gose said. “It’s very important to me.

“And I will fight to prevent us from becoming a mere extension of the San Fernando Valley.”

Gose has lived in Ventura County for 26 years and in Camarillo for 18 years.

Paul J. Kliebert, a retired purchasing agent for Los Angeles County, said he decided to run for City Council because he wants to keep Camarillo a “nice and friendly” place.

“People should be able to bring up their families in a peaceful environment,” Kliebert, 78, said. “I want to keep out the riffraff and keep a control on what we allow to be built here.”

Kliebert also suggested that the city purchase the remaining 1,600 acres of farmland in the city.

“We can use it for nice big parks and affordable housing,” he said.

Kliebert, who moved to Camarillo from the San Fernando Valley three years ago, is the president of the Rancho Adolfo Mobile Home Assn.

He also supports implementing citywide rent control to make housing more affordable for the elderly and young couples.