Supervisors Back Panel’s Proposals on Preserving County’s Farmland

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally endorsed recommendations of an agricultural policy committee and backed that vote with some cash: $104,200 over the next two years to help plan projects aimed at preserving farmland.

The projects were proposed by the 25-member Agriculture Policy Working Group, whose members include planners, environmentalists, politicians and representatives of the building industry.

After meeting for more than a year, the group made several recommendations in June, including proposals to:

* Form legally binding greenbelts between cities to protect prime farmland between them.

* Create urban boundaries around the county’s 10 cities that only voters could change.

* Draft a new zoning ordinance that would identify uses for open space.

Supervisors formally endorsed the recommendations Tuesday and want county planners to begin working on the projects. The money would be used to hire a new planner, thereby freeing existing employees to work on farmland preservation projects.

“This is a very important move,” said Tom Berg, director of the county Resource Management Agency. “It’s one thing to conceptually approve the recommendations, and it’s another thing to approve spending the money and say, ‘Get to work.’ ”

However, supervisors will wait until after the Nov. 4 election to hire the new planner. Residents will be voting Nov. 4 on Measure A, an advisory measure that supports the policy group’s recommendations.

The supervisors also want to see how voters respond to the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative. That measure, one of several similar initiatives planned for the fall, would take the authority to rezone farmland and open space away from county politicians and give it to voters.

Supervisors may choose not to continue moving forward with the recommendations if Measure A or the SOAR initiative fails to receive widespread voter support, Berg said.

Although they agreed to hire a new planner, supervisors are requesting help from cities.

“I’d like cities to help fund this too,” Supervisor Kathy Long said. “Couldn’t city planning staffs take on some role?”

“If cities want joint power agreement, they better have something to bring to the table,” added Supervisor Susan Lacey.

Supervisor Judy Mikels directed the staff to study the projects’ economic effects on the county, cities and landowners, and return to the board with a report in mid-September.

SOAR leader Richard Francis was among the handful of audience members at the board meeting Tuesday.

“I don’t want the board to think just because we got SOAR on the ballot we don’t care about the issue anymore,” Francis said. “We think the group’s recommendations are worthy of our attention and our applause.”

The proposed projects are in “harmony with what we are doing,” Francis said. “We always saw SOAR as a first step, not a panacea.”

Among the group’s other recommendations, which may be carried out later, is a comprehensive public education program on agriculture.