Santa Clara Valley Farmers Protest SOAR

Striking back at a grass-roots farmland preservation campaign, growers from throughout the Santa Clara Valley packed a public meeting at Fillmore City Hall to assert their right to develop their property.

Farmers from Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru dominated discussion during the second in a series of countywide meetings held Wednesday night on the future of agriculture in Ventura County.

Many took aim at the proposed SOAR initiative, a countywide measure that would freeze city growth boundaries and give voters control of farmland development. SOAR stands for Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources.

Bill Wilson, a citrus and avocado grower, criticized the SOAR campaign as nothing more than an effort to protect scenic landscapes for suburbanites.

“What we want to do is preserve open space, the beautiful vista,” Wilson told an audience of about 150 government officials, activists and growers. “I think the county should not focus on agriculture. It’s open space. We want to be able to drive on [California] 126 and see the trees.”

Many local farmers are ready to leave the industry for more lucrative pursuits, Wilson said. He suggested designating a belt of open space off California 126 to preserve the idyllic view, but permitting farmers on less visible property to develop their land.

“The SOAR initiative gives no one any exit plan,” said Wilson, one of about 50 people who spoke. “Why are we saying agriculture is the future of Ventura County? Let’s attract industry so when our kids go to the new Cal State campus, they can stay here.”

His comments drew loud applause from the audience.

Wednesday’s discussion marked a sharp reversal from the inaugural town hall meeting sponsored by the countywide Agriculture Policy Working Group, which was held earlier this week in Oxnard. At that meeting, SOAR advocates held the floor much of the night.

SOAR supporters turned out again in Fillmore, championing their campaign as the best way to protect the county’s $1.2-billion-a-year agricultural industry, which employs about 20,000 people in peak periods.

SOAR backers hope to give voters ultimate control over farmland development issues through a countywide initiative, as well as individual ballot measures in each of the county’s 10 cities.

They aim to freeze the present growth boundaries in each city, with encroachment into outlying agricultural areas allowed only with voter approval.

Richard Francis, a former Ventura mayor and leader of the SOAR campaign, outlined his group’s strategy to the Fillmore audience. He said approval of the initiative would eliminate the public feuding that normally accompanies farmland development projects.

“The SOAR organization is trying to keep this intermingling and conflict at a minimum,” Francis said. “The concept is to put a ring around every city and let each city develop uniquely. . . . You don’t have urban areas moving into farmland.”

Wednesday’s meeting was part of a series of town hall discussions being held by the 23-member policy group. That group includes politicians, representatives of developers and farmers, and other community leaders.

Members have drawn up four scenarios for the future of the county’s farming industry, which range from toughening growth boundaries to allowing unimpeded development.

Policy group members deny that they formed as an alternative to SOAR. But in a sign that the struggle between SOAR backers and opponents is intensifying, Francis confronted members of the Agriculture Policy Working Group before Wednesday’s meeting.

Francis was upset that SOAR supporters were ordered to take posters out of the meeting room and put them in the hallway. And charging that policy group members are trying to muzzle SOAR backers, he pointed out that the format of the meeting had been changed.

In Oxnard, speakers signed up and discussed whatever issues they wanted. In Fillmore, what county leaders described as an “Oprah-style” discussion took place. Alana Knaster, the group’s moderator, announced certain topics related to farmland preservation--such as high-density housing and tax-revenue sharing between cities--and then moved about the room to hand the microphone to audience members.

“On the whole, I thought it was a pretty well-run meeting, but it was clearly changed to prevent people from articulating their own concerns,” Francis said Thursday. “When you frame questions, you frame answers.”

But Francis acknowledged that fewer SOAR backers showed up in Fillmore because the organization does not have branches in that city or Santa Paula. By contrast, Oxnard SOAR supporters, alarmed by numerous housing proposals, have been working together for several months.

After the meeting, county Supervisor Kathy Long said the format change was necessary to avoid another meeting at which SOAR backers controlled discussion.

“Because of the SOAR effort, there were a lot of people who felt intimidated to speak” in Oxnard, Long said. She said the meeting format used in Fillmore encouraged creative thinking--and will remain in effect as the meetings continue next week in Moorpark and Ventura.

Wednesday’s meeting took place in the largely agricultural Santa Clara Valley, the site of numerous major expansion plans. Santa Paula leaders, for instance, are considering a plan to quadruple the city’s size by expanding into surrounding farmland areas.

Fillmore could also grow. Officials there are mulling a proposal to build 200 to 400 homes on land near California 126.

Robert Sawyer, a Santa Paula planning commissioner, said Wednesday night that a radical approach to farmland preservation--including financial incentives--might be necessary.

He said cities routinely build public projects, such as parking garages, that help developers prosper. That kind of financial assistance might be necessary to save farmland, he said.

Government at all levels is hurting local growers, said Jim Lloyd-Butler, who farms lemons near Saticoy. He said the county’s farm permit process is excessively bureaucratic--a relative was faced with a two-week wait just to get permits to move a wind fan. Meanwhile, Lloyd-Butler said, a federal guest worker program would be better for farmers than the current immigration crackdown.

“I think one thing agriculture is going to need is labor--especially labor for the hard work most Americans aren’t willing to do,” he said. “If the INS continues to send back to Mexico the illegals that are no doubt here and a lot of people depend on, then a lot of crops are going to go unpicked.”

Lloyd-Butler said he is more comfortable with having the county’s Board of Supervisors make land-use decisions, as opposed to turning the issue over to voters with SOAR.

George Campbell, an orange grower, said he is just getting by on his 12-acre operation near Fillmore. He wants to keep the option of developing his property if necessary.

“How do you expect us to stay in business?” he asked. “You have to do something for the farmer so he can sell his property if it’s no longer viable. Who wants to work for nothing, or go into the hole? If you’re going to insist we farm, then there’ll have to be some breaks somewhere along the line.”

Meetings on Farmland Preservation

The countywide Agriculture Policy Working Group has launched a series of town hall meetings to discuss the issue of farmland preservation. All meetings run from 6:45 to 9 p.m. Upcoming dates are:

* Tuesday: Moorpark residents invited to Moorpark City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.

* Wednesday: Ventura and Saticoy residents invited to Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St.

In coming weeks, meetings are also planned for residents of Camarillo, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Oak Park, as well as Ojai, Meiners Oaks and Oak View.