County Offers Cool Reception to 3-State Proposal : Geography: Many hurdles, few benefits seen in ‘long shot’ plan. Some recoil at thought of throwing lot in with Los Angeles.

Lounging in a grass hut on her banana plantation, peddling passion fruit to carefree surfers, Sherrie Payton couldn’t feel farther from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles.

But under a proposal due to hit the Legislature this summer, Payton’s Seaside Banana Gardens, a touristy ranch on the northern fringes of Ventura County, would be grouped with inner-city Los Angeles and suburban Orange County in a brand-new Southern California state.

And Payton would be somewhat cut off from the region she most identifies with, as the boutiques of Santa Barbara and the beaches of Santa Cruz would join a separate Central California state.

The prospect of slicing California in three--remote as it may be--disconcerts many natives. Even more distressing to some is the notion of lumping semirural Ventura County in with the sprawling, congested cities to the south instead of the more pastoral stretches of the Central Coast.

“From an income standpoint, we’re certainly tied more to the south, since a lot of our residents get their incomes from jobs in Los Angeles,” said Steve Rubenstein, president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “But from a social standpoint, we’re more keyed into the north.”

Although the idea of splitting the state has been kicking around since before the Civil War, this summer will be the first time since 1859 that the Assembly as a whole will consider chopping up California.

The Assembly’s Rules Committee this week agreed to present voters with a non-binding split-the-state referendum on the 1994 ballot. The ballot question must still garner approval from the full Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson.

“It’s a real long shot,” Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) said. “But you never know.”

Even in its most preliminary stage, the idea of dividing the state infuriates some local leaders. From securing water resources to divvying up California’s deficit, they foresee many hurdles and few benefits.

“We have enough problems as one state. Why would we want to divide up and create three sets of problems?” asked state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley). “I think it’s at the point of insanity.”

Ventura County Farm Bureau President Rex Laird, aghast at the thought of local growers facing border inspections to get their goods to market, passed it off as a harebrained scheme.

“It’s fun to talk about at a barbecue or in the tavern, but when you start to look at the reality and nuances of it all, you have to say: ‘What? What would we be doing?’ ” Laird said. “I think it’s about as likely as balancing the federal budget without new taxes.”

As envisioned by Assemblyman Stan Statham (R-Oak Run), California would become three independent entities. Ventura County would join a southern state with Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties, while Santa Barbara would be part of a central state extending to Sacramento.

Although Statham says he drew his boundary lines “very scientifically and equitably,” others were quick to quibble.

“We’d be a stepchild in that state with Los Angeles,” Ventura Councilman Gary Tuttle complained. “We wouldn’t be much of a player.”

Or, as Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo put it: “We’d be a real small fish in a real big pond.”

Because of coastal issues, environmental concerns and a mutual distaste for urban sprawl, local politicians argue that Ventura County has more in common with Santa Barbara than Los Angeles.

“I’d be in favor of anything not linking us with L.A.,” Schillo said.

Yet with the Conejo Grade looming as a natural border, some have suggested that Ventura County be split in half, with Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark joining Southern California and the remaining seven cities linking up with Santa Barbara and Central California.

“Geographically, culturally and economically, the people (in the east county) are tied to L.A. and we’re not,” Tuttle said. “It’s all one big city anyway, from the Conejo Grade clear down to Anaheim.”

Regardless of the final boundary lines, Statham maintains that residents of each state would continue to head north and south at will.

“This is America,” he said. “We won’t have border guards. Anybody can drive anywhere they want. I will continue to go to Disneyland and people down (south) will continue to ski at Lake Shasta.”

But no matter how free the travel, the vision of crossing state lines to travel from Oakland to San Diego bothers Cathy Mims, president of the Oxnard Harbor Assn. of Realtors.

“I think it’s crazy,” she said. “I’m a native Californian and I’m used to driving hours and hours to get to the state line. I was back East recently and you can cross over from state to state in nothing flat. That’s just weird.”

Times staff writer Gary Gorman contributed to this story.