City Councils Should Stick to Their Turfs

So Ralph Mahan owns 25 acres near, but not in, a greenbelt and wants to build a golf driving range on his property. According to your recent article, he has jumped through the bureaucratic hoops to show he has the money, water and expertise necessary to develop his own land. The stumbling block is three city councils who fear a driving range might attract other commercial development. The article ends with a quote from Moorpark’s mayor, “When it comes to the greenbelt, we want to protect it at all costs,” even though Mr. Mahan’s land is not in the greenbelt.

Clearly, elected officials are overstepping their bounds, right out of the greenbelt. I recommend they either designate Mr. Mahan’s land as being inside the greenbelt and thus appropriate for their protectionism or else give the go-ahead for the driving range (which is an approved use for greenbelt property, by the way). Whatever commercial development it might attract (and it might attract none) should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Denying a conscientious citizen the right to develop his own nongreenbelt property in a manner consistent with greenbelt land usage is shortsighted at best and arrogant at worst.

VIRGINIA K. WEBER

Ventura