2 Officials Faulted for Endorsing SOAR Plan

A day after two Ventura County supervisors endorsed an initiative that would curb development on farmland and open space, Supervisor Kathy Long publicly chastised them for “disrespecting” the work of an advisory group they created to examine the issue.

Long was careful not to mention Supervisors John Flynn and Frank Schillo by name in her remarks during Tuesday’s board meeting--remarks she said she carefully scripted for fear her anger would boil over as she spoke.

But she said afterward that Flynn and Schillo had taken “an easy way out” by opting to endorse the countywide Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative rather than wait for recommendations of the Agricultural Policy Working Group.

The committee of farmers, building industry representatives, planners and politicians was created by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors last year. The panel has been meeting for more than nine months in an attempt to find consensus on ways to protect the county’s annual $1.2-billion agricultural industry.

The group recently wrapped up a series of informational “town hall” meetings and is set to release its final recommendations in coming weeks.

“I felt that the action taken by the two board members was disrespectful of that work,” Long said. “When you begin a committee with a unanimous vote, I would hope that you at least listen to what they have to say.”

Long said the SOAR initiative, which seeks to take the power to rezone farmland and open space away from politicians and place it in the hands of voters, is extremely simplistic and would not resolve the farmland preservation problem.

For instance, it fails to take into account the public’s desire for large-lot homes and cities’ insistence on sales tax-generating shopping centers to boost their budget coffers--things the working group was considering, Long said.

Flynn, one of two dozen members on the working group, said he plans to continue serving on the committee despite its slow progress and lack of consensus among its members.

He shrugged off Long’s criticism as a refusal to accept SOAR as the obvious solution to public concerns about urban sprawl.

“When you talk about great ideas, people often talk about differences of opinion,” Flynn said. “The problem with the working group is that it has been around nine months, and the process seemed to become more important than the outcome.”

Board Chairwoman Judy Mikels said she chose at Tuesday’s meeting not to speak out on Flynn’s and Schillo’s move to support SOAR, but she agreed with Long’s remarks.

“My momma always told me, ‘If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all,’ ” Mikels quipped.

She said she was upset with both supervisors for what she saw as abandoning a hard-working committee, but especially Flynn, since he actually sat on it with her and Long.

“After all the lip service he [Flynn] has given to this process, I guess this is just disconcerting,” Mikels said. “The group has worked very hard despite having very different opinions about a lot of things. We are just to the point where we are going to make a recommendation, and for those two to go and do that was a slap in the face to the whole process.” Supervisor Susan Lacey said she had no opinion on the issue.

Schillo said Tuesday he did not understand what all the fuss was about.

Like Flynn, he said he received numerous calls from constituents happy with his decision to support SOAR.

“She’s defending the group she started, and I can understand that,” Schillo said of Long.

Schillo said he voted to create the working group primarily to educate the public on the complexities of farmland preservation--not to advise him on what political stances he should take.

“I had no feeling that I was waiting for bated breath for them to come out with a decision,” he said. “That’s not what I considered them to be doing. “My understanding, from the very beginning, was that this group was presenting alternatives to the public. I never thought I had to adhere to anything.”