Oak Park Asks Sanitation Board to Aid Cityhood Bid : Jordan Ranch: The community tries to speed incorporation in an effort to cut off Simi Valley’s annexation plans.

Community leaders in unincorporated Oak Park, racing Simi Valley for control over development of Bob Hope’s neighboring Jordan Ranch, have taken the unusual step of asking a sanitation agency to push for incorporation of their community instead of doing it themselves.

The Triunfo County Sanitation District board Jan. 28 will consider submitting an application for cityhood to the county Local Agency Formation Commission--LAFCO--on behalf of Oak Park, a district official said Thursday.

Approval from the five-member board would set in motion a process that could take years to complete, but would be faster than if Oak Park leaders tried to do it themselves, said Ron Stark, a sanitation district director and member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council.

“We’re trying to expedite the time in which our filing will take place,” Stark said.

Stark said Oak Park is seeking a faster path to cityhood to cut off Simi Valley’s plans to annex the entertainer’s Jordan Ranch, where a development of 750 residences is planned.

Ordinarily, cityhood supporters must gather signatures from 25% of the registered voters in the proposed city to place an incorporation measure on a ballot. If approved, LAFCO would then be obliged to begin the incorporation process.

But members of the Municipal Advisory Council, an elected body that advises the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, two weeks ago postponed such a petition drive in favor of placing the request instead before the Triunfo district board.

According to county LAFCO guidelines, a sanitation district may also make a request on behalf of an unincorporated area, District Manager David R. Burkhart said. He cited a similar situation in Los Angeles County, where the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District made the request on behalf of the community of Calabasas.

“They see it as a way to cut through some of that red tape and get to the heart of the question,” Burkhart said.

LAFCO Executive Director Bob Braitman was unavailable for comment.

If the sanitation board agrees to submit the application on behalf of Oak Park, it would heighten competition for Jordan Ranch.

Ever since Simi Valley received approval from LAFCO to submit an application to change its planning boundaries, Oak Park officials have tried to find a way to speed their incorporation efforts. They fear that if Simi Valley’s annexation goes through, Oak Park would be left out of any decision to develop Jordan Ranch.

Residents are concerned about the effect on traffic and schools the Jordan Ranch development would have on their community of 10,000.