Farm Panel Assails Plan to Build in Greenbelt

A plan to build thousands of homes and an agricultural theme park on prime cropland just outside Oxnard has drawn sharp criticism from a panel of prominent farmers advising the county on threats to the farm industry.

In its first report, the reactivated Ventura County Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee will ask county leaders today to send a letter to Oxnard and the Local Agency Formation Commission spelling out the project’s adverse impact on the county’s $2.4-billion agricultural industry.

The committee, which includes three former presidents of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, opposes the project on grounds that it eats up 815 acres of valuable farmland while 2,927 acres of undeveloped property sit idle inside city limits.

“The project would convert 815 acres of valuable farmland to urban uses, yet ironically . . . creating an agricultural exposition center to promote local agriculture and educate visitors about the agricultural and food product industry in Ventura County,” the report said.

The report further states that the project directly conflicts with the city General Plan’s policy to support the preservation of agriculture.

“It’s a turn which we really haven’t seen before on issues like this,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn, noting the significance of farmers speaking out against other farmers looking to sell their land for development. “I’m proud of what they said.”

The project is within the Southeast Oxnard Community Specific Plan, part of Oxnard’s 2020 General Plan--essentially the city’s development constitution to guide and accommodate future growth.

The plan proposes to stretch the city limits in order to put 3,165 houses and an agricultural theme park outside Oxnard’s southeast border.

Because the land is outside the city’s sphere of influence--a line around the city denoting the probable future city limits--and is part of a greenbelt agreement with Camarillo, Oxnard will have to gain the approval of LAFCO to annex the land.

LAFCO has sole jurisdiction over all annexation requests in the county.

Proponents say the proposal will alleviate growth problems in Oxnard by building new schools, enlarging overtaxed sewage lines and widening streets, while educating the public about the county’s farming industry.

But critics, including the advisory panel, say it will further erode the county’s farm industry.

“The county and the city of Oxnard do not need an agricultural exposition center developed on converted agricultural land,” according to the committee’s report.

The homes and 90-acre theme park are proposed by Ag Land Services, a Somis orchard management and development firm.

Armando Lopez, president of the proposed Pacific Ag Expo theme park, said Monday that the criticism is “just a difference of opinion regarding the issue of assisting with the marketing of farm products.”

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said that while he has yet to see the report, he has heard the criticism about the city entertaining plans to develop outside the sphere of influence and inside a greenbelt.

“Whatever happens, it is going to have to go through normal channels,” Lopez said. “During the process, we will have a chance to comment and everyone will have a chance to comment.”

The Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the committee’s report and recommendation as an item on the consent agenda, a list of 20 or so routine matters considered noncontroversial and usually approved without discussion.

However, board Chairman Flynn and Supervisor Kathy Long said they want to place a spotlight on the report and hear from committee Chairman Charles Schwabauer.

The report is significant because it is the first issued by the committee since it was all but disbanded due to budget cuts three years ago, they said.

But last June, the board--with Supervisor Susan Lacey dissenting over budgetary concerns--reduced the size of the committee from 10 to five members and restored a staff position to support the committee’s research.

Appointed by the Board of Supervisors, the reconfigured panel includes three former presidents of the Ventura County Farm Bureau--Schwabauer, Don Reeder and Tom Pecht--as well as George Boskovich, a principal in Boskovich Farms of Oxnard, and Ellen Brokaw, a former member of the Farm Bureau’s board of directors.

“These are farmer-farmers, not farmer-developers,” said Flynn, adding that the old, 10-member advisory committee had been too prone to compromise. “I’m very pleased with their statement.”

Pecht said while some of the ideas in the development plan may be good, the project is simply planned for the wrong place.

“Development should be a slow progression,” he said, “but first and foremost, development should be within the city limits and within the sphere of influence. To just move the sphere of influence, I don’t think is good planning.”