Expansion of Highway 118

After hearing the cries of alarm from various public officials over the Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s instant city at the eastern end of Ventura County, it is interesting to ponder several thoughts.

First, if the affected area of Los Angeles County had a SOAR-type ordinance in place, do you think the proposed development would be going forward--even at a much-reduced scope?

Second, have you ever seen a county line serve as a barrier to urban sprawl, unless it was a natural barrier like the Santa Susana Pass was before the 118 Freeway was built over it? The size of the two cities straddling the 101 Freeway and the county line on relatively flat land (Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village) is proof that county lines have little effect in slowing development.

Third, why is it that the same public officials who are vocal in their concern for agriculture viability along Highway 126 because of Newhall’s proposed new city won’t utter a word in opposition to expanding Highway 118 into a superhighway through the Las Posas Valley? This almost purely agricultural valley already has cities on each end and to the south (Moorpark, Oxnard and Camarillo).

History teaches us that improved transportation infrastructure between motorists’ destinations leads to commercial and residential development that will eventually destroy agriculture in those areas. The threat to agriculture from development will hit the Las Posas Valley long before it hits farming on the east end of Highway 126. Won’t the Board of Supervisors please take a stand for or against expanding the 118 incrementally and / or eventually? We constituents of the Las Posas Valley have the right to know where our elected officials stand.

CHARLOTTE BRANDES, Somis