Camarillo Urges Cities to Withdraw From SCAG : Government: The regional organization links the area with urban counties to the south. Proposed legislation could make the ties permanent.

Camarillo has sent a letter to each city in Ventura County urging local officials to pull out of the Southern California Assn. of Governments and form a coalition with Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

City officials say they fear that if the state Legislature passes a bill giving regional governments more power, Ventura County will be stuck in SCAG, which includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and several others in the Southland.

“We are not as urbanized as those other counties,” Camarillo Mayor Charlotte Craven said. “And we feel like we’ll just be ignored, yet we’ll have to abide by SCAG’s decisions.”

Camarillo City Manager William Little added: “Ventura County has always felt uncomfortable about being lumped in with SCAG. Now it is time to get a firm proposal out on the table.”

City officials are urging local officials to adopt resolutions to pull out of the organization and to do so quickly.

“It’s important to do it now before a regional government bill passes,” Craven said.

In the face of stiff opposition from local governments, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown withdrew a bill in August that would have created regional agencies in the seven largest areas of the state to handle land-use planning and infrastructure development.

Brown’s bill would have replaced 20 air pollution control districts, 27 regional transportation planning agencies, seven regional water quality control boards and 30 local agency formation commissions.

But the San Francisco Democrat said he will introduce a modified bill when the new legislative session convenes in January. Meanwhile, SCAG officials are helping to draw up a bill to ensure that the association’s boundaries would stay intact if a regional government bill is passed.

Craven said Camarillo officials are calling for a meeting with other local officials to discuss pulling out of SCAG. She said they also plan to meet with representatives from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties next week.

SCAG, which deals with regional planning issues, has little power over local governments, and individual cities can pull out at any time. But, Craven said that for the move to be effective, all the cities in the county would have to drop out of the association.

Under the proposed regional government bill, membership in SCAG would no longer be optional, Craven said.

Thousand Oaks City Councilman Lawrence Horner said he also questions whether Ventura County should be included in SCAG.

“The biggest problem with SCAG is it’s so far removed from the things out here,” Horner said. “Our problems are different. Our demographics are different. The question is ‘What is the value of belonging to SCAG?’ ”

Horner said he plans to raise the issue with the Thousand Oaks City Council and possibly suggest that the city adopt a resolution to drop out of the organization.

Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant R. Brimhall said the question of whether Ventura County cities should remain in SCAG has been raised several times in the past.

“There has been a feeling among many of the cities that it makes more sense to be part of an association with Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. There is just more of an emotional tie there, especially among the cities in the west county.”

County Supervisor Maggie Erickson said she believes that cities should take a close look at the issue, but she warned against hasty decisions to pull out of SCAG. She said local officials should wait until the regional government bill is more clearly defined.

“At the moment, the plans are pretty nebulous,” Erickson said. “I think it is premature to pull out.”