Move Forward on SOAR

It has been a month since more than 62% of Ventura County voters approved the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) initiative and nearly 70% urged the Board of Supervisors to follow through on the stop-the-sprawl and save-the-farms strategies laid out in Measure A.

The next move is up to the board and it is a crucial one:

The provisions of the two initiatives must now be turned into a land-use policy that is clear, fair, legally sound and true to both the letter and spirit of the voters’ intent. The future of Ventura County depends on putting both measures’ strategies into effect swiftly and efficiently, despite those who would love to see the effort fail.

As if that weren’t pressure enough, public officials across the nation are watching closely. Everyone from Vice President Al Gore to novelist Tom Wolfe recognizes that keeping urban sprawl from consuming open space is an issue with profound national resonance.

It is time for some bold, unifying leadership in a county that too often splits along lines of self-interest. Where and how to begin?

On Dec. 15, Supervisors John K. Flynn and Frank Schillo plan to propose an implementation committee, headed by themselves, to take the lead in setting policy and ironing out conflicts. Both of them endorsed SOAR, which prevents politicians from rezoning farmland or open space without voter approval, and wrote the ballot argument for Measure A, which advised the board to follow through on the recommendations of the Agriculture Policy Working Group.

Both Flynn and Schillo were frustrated by the slow pace of the methodical, year-long search for consensus pursued by the 25-member Working Group. They emphasize the need for the implementation committee to be small and work quickly, although they differ on how it should be composed. Schillo would include elected officials and staff from cities and the county, plus proponents of both Measure A and SOAR; Flynn thinks it could include farmers and environmentalists as well as city and business leaders, or “It may boil down simply to the two members of the board and county staff.”

We caution against rounding up a new posse of stakeholders to re-plow fields already thoroughly worked by the Ag Policy Working Group. We see a continuing role for that group that would complement the executive function of a small, rapid leadership team.

It is vital at this moment for the county government to take the lead in pulling together the 10 cities and such independent bodies as the Local Area Formation Commission and the Ventura County Transportation Commission. Cooperation of all these government bodies is essential, and clearly the Board of Supervisors must take charge.

But the public must remain involved as well. The research, internal debates and town hall forums of the Working Group did much to increase public understanding of the interlocking puzzles of land-use planning, economic prosperity, quality of life and profitable agriculture. Now that growth restrictions have been passed, this is no time for Ventura County residents to hand the whole thing back to politicians and return to their sitcoms.

Public involvement and education must continue as our new reality unfolds. We suggest that the Working Group host quarterly forums to continue the discussion, to air conflicts, to take the pulse of how things are going and to suggest course corrections to the Board of Supervisors.

The election was not an end but merely a beginning. We should resist the temptation to repeat studies we have already done that will only tell us things we already know. We should move forward now to do the best we can within the new rules. Above all, we should move forward together--with everyone talking, listening and participating.