Park District OKs 780 Homes on Farmland

Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District board members Wednesday unanimously decided to support a plan that would put homes on 234 acres of farmland.

In their first public presentation of the project, developers unveiled a plan that included 780 houses, a school site, recreation area, hotel, restaurants and shopping center located between the Ventura Freeway and Pleasant Valley Road.

Attempting to rally support before approaching the Camarillo City Council on Jan. 28, representatives of developers HiJi Brothers and EJM Development Co. offered to donate more than 33 acres for youth soccer fields--nearly twice the size of the district’s existing facilities at Freedom Park--and another 3 1/2 acres for a 14,000-square-foot gymnasium, community center and roller-hockey rink.

“This seems too good to be true,” said board member Paul E. Rockenstein.

District officials said they would ask their planning committee to discuss how to finance improvement of the donated land, indicating that one possibility would be to issue bond-like certificates that don’t require voter approval because they would be repaid through park revenue.

In order to convert agricultural land within city limits, the developer must demonstrate that there will be public benefit from the conversion.

“This is a unique opportunity to develop a soccer facility and would be one of the things that the park district could do at a reasonable cost,” said Dennis Hardgrave, a consultant who represents the developers.

Representatives from regional and national soccer leagues have expressed interest in helping with the cost of improvements.

The land is not permanently designated as agriculture, but city officials must decide if now is the time to change it.