Reagan Library Stirs Fears of Growth : Earlier Proposals to Develop Greenbelt Area Come to Light, Alarming Critics

Plans for a major league sports arena, performing arts center and other structures on a greenbelt near the site of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library are raising fears in Ventura County, despite assurances that the proposals are no longer being pursued.

Blakeley Swartz, the Los Angeles development firm that is donating 100 acres for the Reagan library, included the structures in plans informally submitted to the county last spring. County planning officials responded, also informally, by characterizing the plans as contrary to land use policies in the area.

When the Reagan library became a consideration last summer, Blakeley Swartz added it to the original development plan.

The proposal never emerged publicly, however, and in recent weeks, as word about the original plan spread quietly, it raised concerns that the library would encourage other development in the greenbelt areas separating Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark.

In an interview Friday, Donald E. Swartz, a partner in Blakeley Swartz, said the proposal for additional structures is not being pursued because the firm is concentrating on the presidential library proposal. But he left open the possibility that the proposal could surface in the future.

“If the community wants them, fine, we are not pushing it, and we are not promoting it,” Swartz said. “It was just a thought that somebody ought to look at.”

Subject to Hearings

The board of the Ronald Reagan Library Foundation announced last month that the Tierra Rejada Valley property donated by Blakeley Swartz had been selected as the site for the proposed $30-million library and Ronald Reagan Center for Public Affairs.

The project is on unincorporated land and is subject to public hearings and final approval by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Blakeley Swartz, which owns 632 acres in the area, drew up an early development proposal well before the Reagan site became a consideration. That plan extended to land north and west of the Blakeley Swartz property and called for a sports arena, a performing arts center, an amphitheater, a cemetery, a 500-acre county park, a botanical garden and a county government center.

Blakeley Swartz gave a copy of the original plan to County Supervisor James Dougherty, who represents the area. Dougherty forwarded it to county Planning Director Tom Berg and to Robert Braitman, executive director of the Local Agency Formation Commission.

In memos written to Dougherty last spring, both Berg and Braitman cited a variety of county policies that forbid large-scale development in the greenbelt area.

The firm has not submitted any official proposal to the county.

Dougherty said Friday that construction of a sports stadium or other major developments unrelated to the library would come “over my dead body.” He said that approval of the presidential library should help preserve the existing greenbelt area.

The 1,200-acre Tierra Rejada greenbelt area is restricted to open space uses, which limit development to about one house for every 40 acres. The three nearby cities and the county have all signed a greenbelt agreement--not legally binding--that calls for the area to remain undeveloped, county officials said.

The greenbelt is west of most of the Blakeley Swartz acreage, which is north of Olsen Road between Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Swartz Doesn’t Own Land

Swartz said his firm does not own the land designated for the sports arena and the other structures. He said he had contacted two property owners in the area but did not receive an enthusiastic response.

“But if a community can set aside land for significant uses, that goes a long way to helping attract those uses,” Swartz said. “That was our thought, as community planners.”

Swartz said he has had no contact with any major league sports franchise or entertainment company interested in a stadium or amphitheater in the area.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton, after meeting with the mayors of Thousand Oaks and Moorpark earlier this month, said they are worried that the additional development may “piggyback or become part of the presidential library.”

The mayors agreed last week to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors asking that the county limit development of open spaces in the Tierra Rejada Valley to the presidential library.

Reagan Foundation officials were notified this summer of the proposed uses surrounding the presidential library, but they made no response to them, Swartz said. Foundation officials could not be reached for comment last week.

Plan Circulated

Copies of the Tierra Rejada development plan were circulated among community members during two meetings organized this summer by Simi Valley City Councilwoman Vicky Howard, who was approached by the firm because of her acquaintance with Swartz. Those meetings were held to gauge public opinion on the proposed presidential library and not to promote other types of development in the Tierra Rejada Valley, Howard said.

“I know it was discussed and that there was considerable opposition to those other uses,” said Howard, a strong supporter of the presidential library. “. . . I would think that right now, traffic considerations would preclude any of those ideas.”

“It’s pretty clear that those uses are not consistent with the greenbelt, at least not my concept of a greenbelt,” Stratton said.

County planning officials in a letter to the Reagan Foundation earlier this month have asked for the exact site of the proposed library, as well as details on the types of activities and overnight accommodations planned there. A formal application for the project is expected to be received from the Reagan Foundation next month, county officials said.