Board Orders Study on Highway Projects

After a dozen residents protested, Ventura County supervisors Tuesday told county staff to study whether two road improvement projects in Los Posas Valley conform to the recently passed SOAR growth-control measure.

Residents are concerned that the projects along a stretch of California 118, scheduled to begin in the summer of 2001, are just the beginning of a more extensive plan to eventually widen a 16-mile stretch of the highway.

Supervisors John Flynn and Kathy Long had questioned whether the projects might conflict with the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative approved by 63% of the voters in November. The measure prevents politicians from rezoning farmland and open space without voter approval.

Flynn and Long had voiced concern that the projects--and the larger, $11.8-million widening project proposed by the state Department of Transportation--will lead to uncontrolled growth and the loss of valued farmland in the valley.

One of the smaller projects would widen and straighten the Mesa School S-curve, situated midway between Somis and Saticoy. The other would widen a stretch of the two-lane rural highway and make other improvements around its intersections with California 34 and Donlon Road.

“The intersection at 118 and Somis Road [California 34] is not a safety issue but a point of congestion twice a day that I think everyone agrees needs to be fixed,” longtime Somis farmer Craig Underwood said. “My concern and that of many others is the scale of the two projects. They are clearly designed to accommodate four lanes.”

Long and Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Judy Mikels were selected by their colleagues to oversee the staff’s effort, which is due back to the board by the end of January. The two supervisors also plan to meet with Caltrans officials in an effort to gather information about details of the projects.

Mikels had initially wanted to push the projects forward, citing safety concerns. But Tuesday, she decided to allow county staff to study how SOAR might affect the projects and to examine alternatives to widening the road at the problem spots.