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COUNTYWIDE : Rezoning of Caston Trust Sites Delayed

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The County Board of Supervisors delayed a controversial Santa Rosa Valley rezoning request for two months Tuesday to study the possible widening of Santa Rosa Road and to explore ways to fund the road project.

With two supervisors absent, the board voted 3 to 0 to delay the proposed rezoning of the Caston Trust properties--12 parcels totaling 332 acres--until Feb. 5.

The properties range from nine to 57 acres, and the owners want to rezone the parcels to allow for one-acre home sites, adding more than 900 residents to the area. The parcels are near Santa Rosa Road, east of Camarillo between Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

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The County Planning Commission recommended denial of the rezoning Nov. 15, mainly because Santa Rosa Road and other nearby roads are inadequate to handle the additional traffic that would be generated by the new residents.

Last month, Ventura County voters rejected Measure A, which would have raised the county’s sales tax half a cent, providing $24 million to improve Santa Rosa and Moorpark roads and $30 million to widen California 33.

Supervisor James R. Dougherty sought the delay in the rezoning request. He said a study of the traffic flow on Santa Rosa Road would determine if the vehicles are coming from the immediate area or whether the road has become a major route used by others as well.

If it has become a major access route, he suggested that the county might be obligated to widen the road. The defeat of Measure A doesn’t mean the end of road improvements, he said.

“We fund roads in the county all the time,” he said. “We get federal and state money.”

Dougherty said he also wants the study to look at whether the county’s land-use plan for the Santa Rosa Valley needs to be revised.

Stanley E. Cohen, attorney for the property owners, was angry about the delay in his request, which has been in the works since 1987. By the time the request is heard, two new supervisors, including slow-growth advocate Maria VanderKolk, will be on the board.

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“I assume Maria will say she is not in favor of any development,” Cohen said.

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