Home, Sweeter Home : Lifestyle: The county is viewed by a growing number of Californians as a good place to move to. Blue skies and a slow pace are among the factors drawing newcomers.

When Beth Lyons decided to move to Ventura, her friends in the Central California community of Mendota--unable to distinguish it from Los Angeles--reeled off a litany of the inner-city ills that might befall her.

But Lyons, 36, knew better. She had spent many weekends in Ventura before moving there 15 months ago. “I was very attracted to the weather and the country atmosphere,” she said. Although it’s “more urban than Mendota,” it is still “easy to get around.”

According to the latest figures from the state Department of Finance, Lyons is part of a growing number of people--especially those living in Los Angeles--who view Ventura County as an attractive place to move within California.

During the year ending June 30, 1991, the county’s estimated net gain in population from elsewhere in the state increased 85%--to 1,435 new residents--compared to the previous year.

A year earlier, the county gained 778 residents from other parts of the state, with 38,551 people moving in and 37,773 moving out. Los Angeles was by far the largest source of those new residents.

The Department of Finance uses changes of address, generated when drivers update their licenses, to monitor population shifts within the state. Although the resulting figures do not fully measure changes, they do reveal trends.

Overall, Ventura County’s population increased from 671,600 to 680,300 from July, 1990, to July, 1991.

Newcomers say they like the county’s weather, blue skies and slow pace. Although it is in Southern California and within an easy drive of Los Angeles, it is not plagued by such big-city problems as monster traffic jams, endemic gang violence and street-corner drug sales.

Lyons says the county offers a friendliness and warmth often missing elsewhere. She cites as an example of that friendliness the Newcomers Club of Ventura County.

In existence since 1981, the club functions as a social and civic outlet for its 66 members. The club’s monthly general meetings feature community members who speak on subjects such as “mommy burnout,” stress management and wardrobe coordinating.

“A lot of information comes out of these meetings,” Lyons said. “They are a major attraction for members. They give new people an idea who the movers and shakers in the area are.”

The club’s members also include some of the county’s biggest boosters.

Take Jean DeClue, for example, who in January became the organization’s co-president.

Her move to Ventura was necessitated by her husband’s transfer in 1985 from Mission Viejo. She has no regrets.

“I’m happy in Ventura,” she said. “I enjoy it because it’s more personal compared to Orange County, which is so vast and overcrowded.”

Besides, she added, “there’s far less traffic.”

DeClue, her husband, Chris, a power plant operator with Southern California Edison, and their sons Jamie, 7, and Joey, 4, like living in the east end of the city of Ventura, she said.

With a boost from the club, which schedules family outings such as bike rides and camping trips, she has come to know the area’s beaches, harbors, lakes and scenic trails. Weekly activities include bowling and bridge.

DeClue, 35, heard about the club from an acquaintance who told her about its activities for preschoolers, which include trips to area parks and even the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Beth Favero, 37, who moved to Ventura County in 1984 from Redondo Beach, also said she likes the slow-paced, less trendy lifestyle of Ventura.

“Not that it’s old-fashioned or backward, but there’s less pressure to conform with social trends,” she said. “It’s more even-paced.”

Still, it is close enough to the big city that “you can shop and get to cultural events within an hour,” Favero said.

She conceded that there are gangs and drugs in Ventura County, but pointed out that those problems are less intense than in the South Bay or other parts of Los Angeles County. “That’s important when you have children,” she said.

Lyons said she credits the Newcomers Club with helping create a sense of community.

Club members approach business owners to raise funds for charities such as the local chapters of Drug Abuse Resistance Education, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Coalition Against Household Violence. And usually they get positive responses.

“People were really friendly,” Lyons said. “I always felt that if they could help, they would.”

Despite their generally positive attitudes about the area, members of the Newcomers Club realize that Ventura County is not without its problems, many of which are pandemic in the state.

DeClue’s children attend Junipero Serra School in the Ventura Unified School District, and although she is generally happy with the elementary school, she said the classes are large.

Lyons also has some mixed feelings. She said she was surprised that Montalvo School in the Ventura district, where her 11-year-old son is a student, seems to lack basic materials as well as extracurricular activities.

“You can’t even get a bathroom door on the boys’ bathroom,” she said, adding that “teachers here have to pay for pens for their students.”

Still, she said, “the teachers here are very responsive to the students’ needs.”

Favero agreed. Her three children, two of whom also attend Serra, are “happy and learning” even though funds for the school are limited.

She said she is impressed with the tenacity of the school’s Parent Teachers Assn., which was very involved in a recent redrawing of the district’s attendance-area boundaries.

Although the county may not be on the cutting edge in some regards, Favero and Lyons said they have been more than satisfied with the quality of the health care available in the county.

When she had to have an operation at Ventura County Medical Center recently, Favero said, the procedure was done quickly and efficiently.

“I was surprised that they had all the new state-of-the-art laser equipment,” she said.