Oxnard Officials Accused of Politics in Backing Greenbelt

Oxnard officials on Tuesday agreed to move forward with plans to preserve farmland in their rapidly developing city, a move critics say is designed to boost the election prospects of everyone on the City Council.

Council members unanimously endorsed a proposal to establish a 2,461-acre greenbelt between Oxnard and Ventura that would prohibit development of the prime farmland for at least the next 30 years.

Representatives of the two cities, along with staff members from Ventura County and the Local Agency Formation Commission, started meeting earlier this year to talk about creating the greenbelt.

Last week, Councilman Michael Plisky asked for a progress report on the effort. It was delivered Tuesday by city staff, but the final report won’t be ready for formal approval until at least early next year.

But the timing of the report, a week before the Tuesday election, had critics charging that the update was politically motivated.

“Isn’t the timing of this political maneuver somewhat questionable?” Camarillo farm manager Roz McGrath told the council Tuesday. “All of you running for public office will now look a little better in the eyes of your constituency. I commend your greenbelt but deplore your timing.”

McGrath is challenging Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi in the 37th Assembly District, and the two have traded jabs on the issue before.

In addition, Councilwomen Dorothy Maron and Geraldine Furr are up for reelection, and Councilmen Plisky and Manuel Lopez are running for mayor.

But council members strongly denied that their attempts to preserve farmland are related to the upcoming election.

“This council works year-round and we don’t take time off for elections or for political issues,” an angry Plisky snapped in response to McGrath’s attack. “I resent that kind of attitude from an outsider who is coming in and telling us how to run our business.”

Environmentalists aren’t convinced that the proposal is unrelated to the election. They say Oxnard has a lousy track record when it comes to agricultural preservation, and blast city leaders for allowing prime farmland to be plowed under to make way for new development.

“Those people basically have been the impetus for the growth in the area,” said Scott Weiss, who lost a council bid two years ago and who sits on the executive committee of the local chapter of the Sierra Club. “Especially based on the fact that the council has maintained such a pro-development stance, it’s really surprising to see them do anything at all about establishing a greenbelt.”

Oxnard officials defend their farmland preservation record, noting that as the city has annexed 2,000 acres for development in recent years it has set aside an equal amount for preservation.

In addition, Oxnard and Camarillo established a greenbelt in 1982 preserving 27,000 acres of farmland between the two cities.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Takasugi about contentions that the greenbelt issue is politically motivated. “We’ve been working on this program for some time.”

As proposed, the greenbelt would stretch north from Wooley Road in Oxnard to the Santa Clara River in Ventura. The land is unincorporated but is in line to be annexed by the two cities.

A greenbelt agreement is a policy statement in which agencies pledge not to build on farmland.

The agreements have no legal authority, staff members in both cities said, but rely on local governments to enforce zoning regulations that limit the amount of development that can be done on agricultural land.

Oxnard council members want to look into raising money through a bond measure to purchase the development rights to farmland placed in the greenbelt.

The two cities plan to hold a public meeting on the issue next month.

A handful of speakers Tuesday supported the greenbelt effort, but developer Kevin Bernzott said he wanted no part of the preservation effort.

“We are categorically opposed to the inclusion of our property,” said Bernzott, who said he represented the owners of hundreds of acres proposed for the greenbelt. “When you are considering this, please include our property out.”

Proposed Greenbelt Oxnard and Ventura are trying to establish a permanent 2,461-acre greenbelt between the two cities that would preclude development for nearly 30 years.