Slow-Growth Petition Drive Is Announced

Backers of a local slow-growth initiative announced Monday that they will start a petition drive next month, hoping to gather 40,000 signatures before a June 1 deadline to qualify for a countywide ballot this fall.

Members of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) decided over the weekend to begin the petition drive, even though the group has not yet met its fund-raising goals, said Steve Bennett, one of the group’s organizers.

The group had hoped to raise $150,000 before volunteers began soliciting signatures at grocery stores, shopping malls and other community centers. Most of the money is expected to pay for campaign literature.

SOAR has raised $83,000 so far, including a recent $2,500 contribution from the local Sierra Club. With more fund-raisers planned, members decided they need to begin their signature-gathering effort, Bennett said.

SOAR backers hope to slow the pace of urbanization by getting each of the county’s cities to establish strict planning boundaries, which could not be changed without voter approval. A similar growth-control measure passed in 1995 in Ventura, when Bennett was a council member in that city.

In addition, the group is promoting a separate countywide initiative that would put similar restrictions on unincorporated land between cities.

Bennett said signature seekers will target voters at sites across the county.

In three cities with SOAR chapters--Camarillo, Simi Valley and Oxnard--voters will be asked to sign both the countywide and local petitions.

SOAR’s announcement comes as the county’s Agriculture Policy Working Group plans to host the last in a series of “town hall” meetings on the future of farming in Ventura County. That meeting is scheduled for 6:45 tonight at Ojai City Hall.