250 Somis Residents Turn Out in Bid to Protect Their Rural Lifestyle

A 24-hour gas station?

No thanks.

A widened California 118?

No way.

New housing on farmland?

Absolutely not.

Somis residents like their rural lifestyle and will do whatever it takes to protect it. That is the message they want to send to Ventura County supervisors.

“We are not interested in converting ag land to residential units,” said Pat Barroso, who moved to the area from Oxnard in 1993. “We don’t want any of it.”

Barroso was among 250 Somis residents who turned out at the Las Posas Citizens Committee meeting Tuesday to let committee members know they will not stand for any of the development projects proposed for their community.

Their chief concern is a plan by Knightsbridge Holdings, a British-based development firm, to plant 90 houses on 196 acres of farmland between Donlon and Sand Canyon roads. About half the homes would include secondary units known as “granny flats.”

Knightsbridge, whose representative said the developer will not be ready to make a formal presentation to the community until summer, is seeking a zone change to allow single-family homes to be built on two-acre parcels. The present agricultural zoning calls for one home for every 40 acres.

But several residents told the seven-member committee Tuesday night that the main reason they had moved to the area was to get away from communities that have been paved over by development.

“We moved to Somis either from the San Fernando Valley or some other rat-infested valley that the people did not take care of when they had the opportunity,” resident John Barone shouted from atop the Somis School auditorium stage, ignoring the podium and microphone provided for speakers below. “Those towns were steamrolled. And that’s what’s happening here.”

Several residents also questioned whether the county might have violated its General Plan because the project is in an agricultural area.

“If the Board of Supervisors wants to kill agriculture, let them stand up and kill their own General Plan,” said Pat Arkin, a trustee of Save Our Somis, a group formed in July 1995 to counteract Knightsbridge’s plans.

“Until they do that, they need to say no to anything that is growth-inducing,” he said.

Supervisor Kathy Long, however, said Wednesday that the county’s General Plan has served the community well to date.

“I would say that the board has very soundly stated our commitment to the agricultural industry, so all proposals that come to us requesting a zone change are going to have an uphill battle,” said Long, who represents part of the area.

The next step in the Knightsbridge project, which will not occur for another month or two, will be for supervisors to approve a contract for a full environmental impact study.

Save Our Somis hired a San Francisco law firm to review guidelines for a preliminary environmental review of the Knightsbridge project, which found that the county failed to take into consideration wetland, ground water, flooding and other geological impacts.

“In addition to these physical impacts, the project would set a new and alarming precedent for the county by allowing an intensive level of development on important agricultural lands,” attorney Rachel Hooper stated in a recent letter to county planning officials.

“If approved, this project would make a mockery of the county’s strong policies relating to the preservation and protection of agricultural lands,” Hooper added in the letter.

The Las Posas Citizens Committee voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that county supervisors take into account the attorney’s analysis when they are reviewing public comments about the project.

The committee also unanimously approved sending a letter requesting any plans for widening California 118 be put on hold until further study and community input can be obtained. Some residents are meeting with state Department of Transportation officials today in an attempt to bring plans back for a public hearing.

But the committee voted 4 to 3 to send a letter to supervisors reaffirming its no development stand.

Sam McIntyre, one of the dissenters, said Wednesday that he does not necessarily favor any of the projects, but does believe in due process.

“We all have the right to go through the system of checks and balances as to what we can do with our property,” said McIntyre, a farmer who has lived in Somis for 30 years. “The mob rule last night was trying to deny people their property rights.”