Proposed Oxnard Development Decried

Building on opposition from preservationists, the Ventura County Farm Bureau and an Oxnard city councilman have officially come out against a plan to transform 815 acres of farmland into a 3,000-home community and an agricultural theme park.

The farm bureau will announce its opposition to the proposal in a letter to City Council members this week, said Rex Laird, the bureau’s executive director.

The council should focus on developing vacant areas within the city, rather than annexing farmland for development, Laird said.

“One of the major issues is the amount of land they already have within the city,” Laird said. “That’s one thing that struck a resonant chord with us. It begs the question: Why do they need 815 acres, all at once?”

Meanwhile, City Councilman Tom Holdenon Tuesday became the first city official to publicly voice opposition to the proposal, saying the city already has enough development plans underway to keep pace with population growth.

“It’s not a project that makes sense,” Holden said. “The overall acres and number of homes are just not appropriate.”

The growing concern over Oxnard’s Southeast Plan comes as a series of crucial meetings on the proposed development nears. The city Planning Commission will meet Aug. 21 to review the final environmental impact report on the proposal.

Within the next two months, City Council and Planning Commission members will meet in a special session to discuss revisions to Oxnard’s General Plan, the city’s blueprint for future growth.

Under the Southeast Plan, restaurants, schools, a fire station and 3,165 homes would be built on farmland now within a greenbelt shared by Oxnard and Camarillo.

It would be bounded by 5th Street on the north, Rice Avenue on the east, Rose Avenue on the the west and the Pacific Coast Highway to the south. An estimated 11,000 residents would live in a six-neighborhood community of single-family homes and townhomes.

*

The development would also include the Pacific Ag Expo, a theme park that a group of landowners wants to build on about 90 acres of farmland.

The city would have to annex the land before development could begin.

Already, preservationists have mobilized against the plan, underscoring support for farmland preservation that has been building throughout the county. In a University of California poll released earlier this year, for instance, 75% of local adults say they favor saving the county’s vegetable and citrus farms.

Carla Bard, an official with the Environmental Defense Center in Ventura, cited the results of the UC poll and criticized the development plan, particularly the planned theme park.

“To pave over acres of agriculture to promote it is just asinine,” Bard said. “It’s just a contradiction.

“To me, this just illustrates the old Ventura County--grow, grow, grow. This is just something a developer wants to do. It doesn’t have to be what the citizens of Oxnard want to do.”

*

Pacific Ag Expo President Armando Lopezreplied that the theme park would be good for farmers.

‘It’s intended to showcase the industry,” he said, adding that groups like the California Strawberry Commission would have offices at the park.

“They are groups with the sole purpose to market products for growers,” he said. “I think most of the opposition is from environmental groups who don’t want anything to happen.”

Oxnard Community Services Director Matt Winegar said the Southeast Plan was prompted in part by developers’ desire to build on farmland. But he said the city needs to look at development scenarios as it grows. Officials predict Oxnard’s population will climb from its current population of 153,273 to 187,276 by the year 2020.

The Southeast Plan faces many hurdles if it is to become reality. It must win approval from the Oxnard Planning Commission and City Council as well as the Local Agency Formation Commission, an independent agency that oversees annexations.

“This is the first step,” Winegar said, referring to the final environmental impact report released this week. The report responds to nearly 40 residents, activists and officials across the county who expressed concern with the building proposal at public meetings or in writing.

*

Concerns over increased traffic congestion can be resolved by extending and widening roads, the report states. Auto emissions could be lessened through various plans to encourage public transportation. And basic changes that accompany development, such as increased noise, are not cited as significant.

But the price of allowing such a massive development project would be the loss of 815 acres of farmland.

County agriculture officials said the development proposal runs counter to their own policies.

“The farm bureau land-use policy says cities need to focus on land within their city limits,” Laird said. “Cities should focus on what they have before consuming agricultural land.”

The five Oxnard council members have not spoken extensively about the Southeast Plan. But Holden’s comments Tuesday, coupled with those from Councilman Dean Maulhardt signal that the proposal may be losing support.

“I have some strong reservations; 3,000 homes seems a heck of a lot,” Maulhardt said Tuesday. “We’re trying to achieve quality of life in Oxnard. [Residents] want a rural lifestyle, as opposed to an Orange County lifestyle--and I would like to agree.”

Mayor Manuel Lopez and Councilmen Bedford Pinkardand John Zaragoza were unavailable for comment.

Holden pointed to two housing plans in Oxnard already being discussed in arguing against the Southeast Plan. Those projects are the Northwest Community Plan, which seeks to turn 300 farm acres into homes and expand the River Ridge Golf Course, and another proposal to build 300 homes on sand dunes at Mandalay Bay.

Holden said the farmland near southeast Oxnard should not be developed until Oxnard’s population grows to full capacity.

“What value does it add to the community?” Holden said. “We don’t need proposals just to have proposals.”