Urban Sprawl

As a member of the Ventura County Agriculture Policy Working Group, I recommend these policies and strategies:

“Stop urban sprawl!” At seven town meetings we heard it with applause. In our survey nearly 70% preferred scenarios A and B together.

How do we answer the mandate? It will take time to work out the specific strategies required in the county and in each city. Eleven-hundred acres of farmland each year is too much to lose.

How can we hold the line in the meantime? I believe the SOAR (Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources) initiatives are that vehicle. Draw urban growth boundaries around our cities. Protect our greenbelts with ordinances. Limit the uses on county land. Any changes for 20 years must require a vote of the people. We will save not only agricultural land but open space and habitat as well.

The people believe in a “land-use ethic” that insists that land is a precious and irreplaceable resource we must protect for all time.

In the same period, we must house people and maintain our thriving economic community. It took 150 years for California to reach a population of 33 million people. We will double that in the next 50 years. Consequently, we must create compact, sustainable cities separated by enduring greenbelts. That will answer the question, “How do we stop urban sprawl?”

JEAN HARRIS

Oxnard