A Housing Milestone

Halting suburban sprawl takes more than simply commanding it to cease, as many Ventura County voters hoped to do by passing a series of growth-control measures over the past five years. It requires creative thinking by builders, changes in home buyers’ attitudes and conscious public policy decisions to encourage--or at least allow--construction of more efficient housing.

Ventura County will pass a small but significant milestone this month when construction begins on Moorpark’s first apartment complex in a decade. City officials are to be commended for approving this project.

Adding apartments as well as detached single-family homes to the mix is one way to meet the growing need for housing for people of all income levels. It is also the only way the county and its 10 cities will be able to satisfy the widespread desire to preserve farmland and open space in the face of a growing population.

Many factors contribute to the wasteful development patterns that have made Southern California “exhibit A” for anti-sprawl crusaders. Some of them government bodies can’t do much about.

One of those is buyer preference. Most families would prefer a house, if they could afford one, even if that means moving far away from the workplace that pays the bills. This pattern leads to longer commutes, which take their toll on traffic, air quality and family life.

Another is litigation. Although it probably wasn’t the intention, a large number of construction dispute lawsuits over the past 10 years has discouraged builders from putting up condominiums and other types of attached housing.

But some of the causes of sprawl do rest in the hands of local governments. In Simi Valley debate is growing over whether building houses on small lots is a wise use of a limited resource or a prescription for unsightly crowding. Builders say buyers want small-lot houses and promise that the market would accommodate growth and meet the need for affordable housing--if city officials would just get out of the way. But although Simi Valley officials acknowledge the need to build wisely they say new dwellings should be attractive and designed to maximize privacy.

In the city of Ventura, a string of recent residential subdivisions was approved at 44% of the density they were zoned for: Properties designated in the city’s comprehensive plan for 2,353 units were actually approved with a total of 1,030 units. That’s no way to make the most of the limited supply of residential acreage.

Several recent projects do demonstrate the sort of thinking that Ventura County will need in order to grow without sprawling. Six apartments were built atop a furniture store in Fillmore. In downtown Ventura, 26 condos will share a single acre. In Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, zero-lot-line construction allows more homes to house more families. Builders are willing to create such options--if cities allow them and if buyers find them appealing.

Officials in Moorpark, a fast-growing city composed largely of suburban tracts, did the right thing by approving this 312-unit apartment complex. It’s one tiny step on a long, long road but it is a step in the right direction.