Agriculture and Development

Any thought that the traveling road show calling itself the Agricultural Policy Working Group intended to hold a series of town hall meetings to gain input from the public has been dispelled by their recent move to ban effective audience participation (“Sowing Seeds of Future,” Jan. 18).

Despite their denial that they were organized at this particular moment in history to combat the growing support for the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) initiative, it is clear that this group, representing mainly politicians, bureaucrats and developers, is here to convince us that the future of Ventura County should remain in their hands alone, and to protect what they call “farmers’ development rights.”

That peculiar phrase refers to a right that does not exist, since the only landowners who may have development rights are those whose land is zoned for development.

Owners of agricultural property have no more intrinsic right to rezone, just to enrich themselves, than any other landowner. They do have the right to request zoning changes, which their local government has the right to approve or deny, either through elected representatives or, if the SOAR initiative passes, by a ballot of local voters.

That process has been so corrupted by special-interest money and the high cost of election campaigns that county residents can no longer trust elected officials to represent their interests in this area, rendering the Agricultural Policy Working Group irrelevant. Where were they during the past decade while county politicians wantonly violated greenbelt agreements and disregarded their own master plans in their rush to rezone open space and farmland?

Consider the following: A few months ago we watched the enthusiasm shown by some Ventura City Council members for converting farmland into a sports center evaporate, only after then-Councilman Steve Bennett revealed to the public the web of self-interest linking them to major campaign contributors and friends who would be enriched by that ill-conceived venture.

In Thousand Oaks, the owner of a pizza parlor chain, who would obviously profit from a population explosion, spent an unprecedented amount of money attempting to recall a city councilwoman favoring slow growth.

On the Santa Paula City Council, the strongest advocate for paving over greenbelt farmland is a real estate broker.

Only a citizens rebellion, the threat of a SOAR initiative and an election year have forced the developer-friendly Oxnard City Council to shelve plans to rezone prime farmland for a huge housing tract the majority of its constituents don’t want.

We cannot passively watch Ventura County become another San Fernando Valley. Like the recall, initiative and referendum that helped reform state politics, the SOAR initiative is a necessary check on the power of politicians who pander to wealthy special interests.

RODERICK GREENE

Ojai