Countywide : Trust to Save Open Space, Farmland

A group of Ventura County growers and community leaders has formed a private land conservancy to help preserve farmland and open space in the county.

The Ventura County Agricultural Land Trust and Conservancy will help preserve the county’s rural character by providing a way for land to remain in agriculture in perpetuity, said Randy Axell, a Santa Paula grower and member of the new trust’s board.

“This is something that will be of value to both the agricultural community and the whole community of Ventura County,” Axell said.

The trust, which has no funding for land purchases, will accept donations of land and rights to develop property. If property development rights are donated to the trust, any future owners of the land would not be able to use the property for purposes other than agriculture or open space.

“A lot of people in agriculture aren’t in it to try to sell their property for a profit,” Axell said. Donating development rights to the trust “gives agriculture an option for long-range planning.”

Although the first of its kind locally, the trust becomes one of several similar organizations in the state, said Gene Kjellberg, a senior planner with the Ventura County Planning Department.

The nonprofit trust was formed two months ago and recently filed articles of incorporation with the state. With those actions, a committee formed by Supervisor Maggie Kildee two years ago to guide formation of the trust has disbanded.