Residents Seek to Refine Santa Paula Growth Plans

Upset by the city’s efforts to quadruple its size, a group of residents announced Tuesday they would attempt to place a growth-limiting measure on the November ballot.

The group is the latest to form under the auspices of Save Our Open Space and Agricultural Resources and proposes replacing the council’s growth plan with its own more modest version. SOAR is seeking to place similar growth-limiting measures on the ballot in five cities and unincorporated areas.

The Santa Paula SOAR group intends to file a petition with the city clerk’s office later this week, said Councilwoman Laura Flores Espinosa, a chief organizer of the group. The group would need to collect about 1,100 signatures by June 1 to qualify the initiative for the fall ballot.

“Santa Paula residents are up in arms about the last council vote to quadruple the size of Santa Paula,” she said. “I think that was the turning point . . . I think there’s just been a groundswell and real awakening of what this new Newhall Ranch will do for this beautiful valley.”

Not one person in a capacity crowd at the council meeting last month spoke in favor of the city’s growth plan. The council rejected pleas to place the issue on the ballot and allow people to endorse or reject the plan.

Espinosa and Councilman John Melton cast the dissenting votes against the plan, which proposes adding 9,570 acres to the city over the next 20 years. More than 3,600 homes would be built, boosting the city’s population by more than 10,000 people on surrounding open space and farmland.

County planners have pointed out that if built out as envisioned, the city’s expansion would result in 12 times the traffic for Ventura County than what would be generated by the 12,000-acre Newhall Ranch development in neighboring Los Angeles County.

“The 3-2 vote to quadruple the size of Santa Paula certainly energized what was already a strong feeling that they needed SOAR,” said Steve Bennett, one of the leaders of the countywide effort. “This is a classic example of where the elected officials are not reflecting one of the core values of the citizens in their community.”

However, City Manager Peter Cosentini defended the council’s decision.

“I believe that the council has listened to people--they’ve had a series of public meetings--and somewhere down the line you have to make a decision,” he said. “It cannot be consistent with all input.”

The SOAR initiative proposes a much smaller growth plan of 2,700 acres. If passed, the initiative would require voter approval of any further development that would involve annexation.

But even that abbreviated growth plan, which was rejected by the council last month, has its critics. The chief reason is that it could allow for development on 541 acres within the greenbelt between Santa Paula and Fillmore.

“They haven’t got my support,” Melton said. “How can they be Save Our Ag Resources when they take 541 acres of prime ag land out of production? Give me a break.”

Espinosa maintains the relatively modest amount of growth the SOAR group proposes would serve the needs of the city and residents.

“This plan will allow for sufficient growth to enhance our industrial development,” she said. “It will allow for housing for all income levels and it provides for green and open space.”

The group will hold a strategy meeting at 7 p.m. May 14 in the community room of the Oaks Mobile Home Park, 1500 Richmond Road.

Santa Paula officials must still receive approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission, which approves annexation requests, for their proposed growth plan.

Any presentation before the commission is six to 12 months away, Cosentini said. City officials have discovered previously unknown technical requirements that could delay any application to the agency, he said.

Even if the city’s proposal to expand its boundaries is approved by LAFCO, the SOAR initiative would still give voters a say over future development, Bennett said.