Committee Votes to Change Rural Designation to 1 Lot Per 2 Acres

Somehow, nine politicians from eight agencies agreed Thursday that Ventura County’s growth policies should be tougher.

In a report to be submitted to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, representatives from seven cities and the supervisors voted to change the rural designation from one lot per acre to one per two acres.

If the supervisors adopt the new definition, it will be submitted to the cities for their respective approvals.

Urban zoning, the committee concluded, allows more than one lot per two acres and requires a new sewer system to support the development.

Most of the two-hour meeting was spent wangling over the rural designation. Moorpark Councilman John Wozniak held out for one lot per 10 acres; Thousand Oaks City Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski wanted one per five acres; and Santa Paula Councilman Al Urias and Supervisor Maggie Kildee lobbied for one lot per one acre.

The logjam was finally broken when Ojai City Councilman Bob McKinney floated the two-acre compromise. He had hoped for a policy that set rural designation at one lot per four acres.

“I don’t know if they’ll let me back in Ojai,” McKinney joked as he made the two-acre proposal.

More than 100 people--many of them Somis residents--packed a county conference room to watch the debate. Though the committee’s action is not official and still needs board and city council approvals, it was viewed as a big step toward establishing the county’s growth policies.

Further, Supervisor Judy Mikels believes the committee--which has met four times--stimulates discussion between the politicians who will determine the scope of development in Ventura County.

“There has been a lot of discussion amongst the city and the county, and that’s what is important,” Mikels said.

The committee was formed to update the county’s 27-year-old Guidelines for Orderly Development. Many credit the four-page document with preventing the same kind of urban sprawl that has occurred in the once agriculturally rich San Fernando Valley.