Supervisors Reject Bid by District to Sell Land : Oxnard: Board cites violation of county’s planning laws had 27-acre lemon grove been put on the market.

Deciding that even school districts must obey county planning laws, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected the Oxnard high school district’s bid to sell a 27-acre lemon orchard.

Supervisors voted 4 to 0 against the district’s request to sell a citrus grove behind the new Oxnard High School on Gonzales Road near Victoria Avenue.

By upholding a county Planning Commission decision, supervisors effectively killed the district’s chance to recoup its $2.1-million purchase price by selling the land back to its original owner.

But supervisors said they felt torn between the needs of students and protecting county agriculture.

Allowing the Oxnard Union High School District to sell the orchard would violate county planning laws and encourage future development in the agricultural area between Oxnard and Ventura, supervisors said.

By choosing to build a school on the strip of farmland, supervisors said the district may have already triggered a “domino effect” that will lead to more building.

“This may be one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to face because of my love for education and my love for agriculture,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said.

But, she said: “The domino effect has already begun. The domino effect began when the school district bought that piece of property. I think it’s important the board not let the second domino fall.”

County zoning laws forbid landowners from creating lots smaller than 40 acres in agricultural areas, a rule that county officials say protects farmland and discourages development.

But school officials said the county’s concern over guarding agricultural areas may backfire.

“Their best option was to let us sell it and keep it in agriculture,” Supt. Bill Studt said.

Unable to sell the orchard, school officials said they may build on it. The site may become the future home of Oxnard Adult School or a new continuation school, Studt said.

That was not the district’s original plan.

School officials bought the 26.6-acre orchard in 1992 as part of a larger, 80-acre plot on the south side of Gonzales Road, midway between Patterson Road and Victoria Avenue.

Although the district needed only 53 acres for a school to replace the existing Oxnard High on 5th Street, officials said they had trouble finding properties that were larger than 40 acres but smaller than 80.

The district considered building the school on Patterson Road at the edge of the Oxnard city limits, but gave up the idea in the face of community protests.

Under pressure to buy land quickly so they could qualify for state funds to build the new campus, school officials entered into a deal with Ag Land Services and Maland Enterprises--then joint owners of the 80-acre property.

Although county planning officials opposed the proposed school from the start, state law allows school districts to circumvent local zoning laws by condemning property needed for new schools.

So the district signed a condemnation agreement with the landowners that obligated Maland to buy back the leftover 26.6 acres at the original selling price prior to Dec. 31, 1994.

But school officials knew that they could resell the land only if the county agreed to bend its 40-acre-minimum rule and designate the grove as a legal lot.

Supervisors said Tuesday that school officials were presumptuous to assume that they could get such approval.

“The district seemed to know what the consequences were, knew they were taking a risk and that risk was with the students,” Supervisor Susan K. Lacey said.

But school officials said they believed that the county would grant an exception in their case because of the unusual circumstances. The district is the only public agency to own property in the area and the only landowner to acquire its acres through condemnation.

Now school officials are wondering what to do with the lemon orchard, which costs the district about $175,000 a year in interest on the bonds used to buy the property.

Some county officials have suggested that the district hold on to the land as an investment property.

With the city of Oxnard expected to consider annexing the area where the school is located, the district may be able to eventually sell the property and earn a profit.

But school officials said Tuesday that they cannot afford either to hold on to the property or keep farming it.

In view of such financial hardship, school board President Nancy Koch said she was shocked by the county’s decision.

“If you knew the hours and money and the time that has been spent on getting that school built and to be portrayed as being against agriculture. . . ,” Koch said after the meeting. “It’s just very frustrating.

“What’s more important: kids or lemons?”