Officials to Weigh Annexation Options

Three proposals for annexing up to 11,000 acres of land outside Santa Paula city limits will be considered today by the Planning Commission and City Council.

An advisory committee voted recently to support the largest of the three proposals, involving an area in which more than 9,300 acres would be developed with about 4,000 homes, two golf courses, a hotel and other amenities over the next 20 years.

The development could net the most money for the city, eventually generating as much as $3 million annually, officials estimated. But it also would gobble up prime agricultural land, bring the most traffic and potentially cause the worst environmental problems of the three proposed growth areas.

The support for the massive development may signal a recognition that drastic action is needed in a depressed city that forecasts a $1.3-million deficit by the turn of the century and hasn’t grown in at least a quarter-century, said Planning Director Joan Kus.

“I was surprised they were in favor of doing the biggest expansion area, because Santa Paula is not into change,” she said. “Santa Paula has been living in the status quo for most of our lives and this is a direction to do something different, which is very different.”

A second proposal would exclude the development of Fagan Canyon and some of the greenbelt region. The smallest growth proposal excludes Adams Canyon and some farmland south of the Santa Clara River.

A large turnout is expected for the unusual joint meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at the community center, 530 W. Main St.