Golf Proposal Drives Debate on Greenbelt

A developer’s plan to build a golf course and driving range in the Tierra Rejada Valley has reignited debate over the future of the rugged open space region separating Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

The golf course poses a difficult challenge for those who oppose it because the project is permitted under current land-use policies, is not covered by an informal greenbelt agreement among local officials and would not even be restricted by a looming growth-control ballot measure.

“It’s really a complex issue and there are many things we’re worried about,” said Moorpark Mayor Pat Hunter, who has written a letter objecting to the development. “Primarily, we are concerned this could be a precursor to growth in that area. Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley want to keep that area the way it is.”

The proposal by Crumpler & Kruger Commercial Real Estate of Malibu to build a public golf course and unlighted driving range on 183 acres at the northeast intersection of the Moorpark Freeway and Tierra Rejada Road will go before the Ventura County Planning Commission today.

It comes almost exactly a year after the property owner, Ralph Mahan, received permission from the county Board of Supervisors to build just a lighted driving range on the site, which lies just outside the 2,200 acres protected under a 1984 greenbelt agreement among the county and surrounding cities.

Supervisor Frank Schillo, whose district borders the largely unoccupied Tierra Rejada Valley, said the time has come to revisit--and strengthen--the greenbelt pact to clarify what development, if any, should be allowed.

“The agreement is really nothing right now and, unfortunately, it’s led to a lot of confusion about greenbelts and what is and what is not allowed,” Schillo said. “Right now, it’s just a loose handshake. It’s not even legally binding.”

Supervisor Judy Mikels, who represents the Tierra Rejada Valley, agrees that there is a need to convene with leaders from the three cities and work out a new agreement. But she and Schillo disagree about the golf course project, which may go before the Board of Supervisors after it is heard by the Planning Commission.

Schillo believes that it is incompatible with the area, while Mikels points out that it is perfectly legal under existing county rules, which allow golf courses in open-space areas.

“It’s not in the greenbelt. This was an envisioned use,” Mikels said. “What they [former leaders] did not want is urbanization or industrialization.”

Moorpark officials, who objected to the original development, have sent the county new letters of opposition regarding the more intense golf course plan. The Camrosa and Calleguas water districts have also raised concerns about the project’s water needs.

Hunter believes that the very fate of the Tierra Rejada Valley hangs in the balance.

“What I think it does is establish a precedent,” he said. “If you allow this type of development in Tierra Rejada, it could lead to others. It really is the start of commercialization in Tierra Rejada.”

In addition to the driving range and 18-hole public course, the proposal includes a 5,000-square-foot operations building with parking for 190 vehicles and an 8,000-square-foot maintenance building. The facility would be open from before sunrise to dusk seven days a week, with no more than 230 people--30 employees and 200 golfers--on-site.

The golf course proposal may involve greater development than the original plan for a driving range, developer Ted Kruger said. But if anything, it should be more compatible with residents’ wishes to keep the Tierra Rejada Valley as pristine as possible, he said.

“We suggested that our driving range will no longer be lighted, which is one of the areas where we have shown sensitivity,” Kruger said. “We’ll basically have a modest little building and food facility. We’re not looking to become another Marie Callender’s or Coco’s.”

Moreover, Kruger said there is a clear need for more public golf courses in Ventura County, and the Tierra Rejada Golf Club, as it would be known, would be designed by Robert E. Cupp of Atlanta, the man behind such acclaimed courses as Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon.

“We’re trying to build a major public golf course with 100% private money,” Kruger said. “It’s not just any old course.”

To growth-control advocate Richard Francis, the golf course plan is a perfect example of why changes are needed in county law.

Francis is a leader of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources, or SOAR, which hopes to place a countywide initiative on the ballot that would require voter approval of any decision to rezone pristine lands.

Even the SOAR initiative, however, would allow golf courses in open space land--”but it still doesn’t make it a good idea,” he said.

“My prediction . . . is that more of these kinds of proposals will force somebody to make that effort.”

Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Linda Parks agrees with Francis that golf courses should probably not be allowed in county open space.

She also agrees with Schillo that the Tierra Rejada Golf Club does not fit Tierra Rejada and that eastern Ventura County leaders need to more specifically define what they would like to see in the area.

“We need a new agreement,” Parks said. “All we have is a handshake and we need a hammer, that’s for sure.”