SOAR Flies in Oxnard as Initiative Receives Tentative OK

Capping weeks of negotiations, Oxnard officials have tentatively agreed to place on the November ballot a measure that would limit urban sprawl.

The City Council is expected to give final approval April 14 to a compromise initiative crafted by municipal staff and members of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources.

The council took the action after SOAR members vowed to gather enough signatures to force the initiative onto the ballot.

“It’s inevitable we will be seeing that initiative, so why not put it on the ballot,” Councilman Tom Holden said after the vote during Tuesday’s meeting. “From a political standpoint, I always feel that it is much better to be part of any process that is going to affect the future of the community.”

The initiative would replace a slightly different version SOAR submitted two weeks ago.

SOAR is seeking to sharply limit cities’ growth to preserve farmland.

The Oxnard initiative would include two housing developments, totaling more than 800 homes, near River Ridge Golf Course and Mandalay Bay that SOAR’s initiative had excluded. In an effort to ensure that the county-owned Oxnard Airport cannot be expanded without the council’s blessing, the city’s measure also would include a 66-acre tract of farmland near the facility.

“It’s a successful compromise when everybody thinks they [lost] a little,” said Joe O’Neill, who is spearheading SOAR’s Oxnard efforts.

If the council votes as expected, SOAR will be relieved of the cost of collecting 6,100 signatures by June 1 to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

Oxnard also would become the first of five cities in the county targeted by SOAR to take such action.

The Camarillo City Council has said it will consider passing a SOAR ordinance if the group collects enough signatures to place it on the ballot. But the governing bodies of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark and the county appear content to allow the electorate to decide the issue.

Only Ventura has approved a SOAR initiative.

Steve Bennett, who is leading the SOAR effort countywide, characterized Oxnard’s impending action as a nod to political reality.

“It means that an effective group of citizens have come together to convince their City Council that it was inevitably going to happen anyway,” he said.

Holden noted that no members of the general public Tuesday night voiced concern over the council placing the initiative on the ballot. Those who did object all had ties to the building or real estate industries.

SOAR will withdraw its original initiative if the council votes to place the initiative on the ballot, O’Neill said.

“That petition is our strong bargaining point,” O’Neill said. “In case everything falls apart we have submitted our SOAR petition and we stand ready to go out and obtain our signatures.”