Task Force Urges Restricted Development of Ormond Beach

A conservation-minded task force dedicated to protecting Ormond Beach endorsed a plan Tuesday that would greatly restrict development and ensure farmland, open space and wildlife habitat are preserved along the coveted stretch of shoreline.

Concluding six years of often rancorous debate, the Ormond Beach Task Force decided residential and commercial development at Ormond’s 1,404-acre beach and uplands conflicts with surrounding land uses and environmental assets.

The plan represents the strongest statement yet from community leaders that the sliver of beach near Oxnard should be saved from urban sprawl that has consumed much of the Southern California coastline.

“The decision we have made today to keep all but a very small amount of acreage in agriculture or open space is a big step toward conservation of a very special area in Ventura County,” said Roma Armbrust of the Ormond Beach Observers, a coalition of local environmental groups.

Ormond Beach is the largest remaining tract of undeveloped coastline in the county. Imperiled birds, such as the California least tern and western snowy plover, inhabit wetlands along the beach. Dunes and bluffs, which offer dramatic seascapes, and neatly furrowed crops are among amenities task force members and others have long insisted must be preserved and enhanced.

“The opportunity we see here is to restore the major wetlands of California. Ormond Beach is one of the highest priority areas,” said Peter Brand, who chairs the task force and works for the California Coastal Conservancy, which seeks to acquire and restore oceanfront properties for public use.

Despite its ecological amenities, Ormond Beach is fragmented and pressed hard by development. In or around it are found a military base, a metal foundry, a sewage plant, a major port, a power plant and a paper mill.

In addition to those development pressures, city officials, some local residents and a panel of experts prefer more development to energize a languishing economy in south Oxnard than the task force is willing to abide.

Under the plan the task force approved, new development at Ormond Beach would be prohibited except for about 70 acres near Perkins Road, where industry would be allowed to expand.

The task force consists of up to 90 representatives from government agencies, environmental groups, concerned neighborhoods and some business interests. It was created by Oxnard officials to help sort out competing development options for the beach.

Whether the action the task force took will significantly influence the future of Ormond Beach is far from clear. Its decision is an advisory recommendation to Oxnard city officials, who will probably have the final say over what will happen to the beach.

It is but one of four recommendations the Oxnard Planning Commission, and ultimately the City Council, will consider, said Matthew G. Winegar, development services director for Oxnard.

The other three recommendations include a conservation plan put forward by the task force, which focuses on beach and wetlands protection; the Oxnard General Plan, which would allow for considerable development at the beach; and a preferred alternative, which is yet to be completed by city staff, Winegar said.

Those alternatives will probably not be completed until late this year, followed by an environmental impact report that will take perhaps another year, followed by public hearings, Winegar said.

Those competing proposals indicate how contentious and disparate are the various visions for what Ormond Beach ought to be. Most likely, a recent study by the Washington-based Urban Land Institute will heavily influence Oxnard city planners as they develop their preferred alternative plan.

After months of briefings and visits to Ormond Beach, the institute recommended in June that the wetlands and beach be cleaned up and enhanced to become the centerpiece of any future development. The institute also recommended building homes on about 400 acres north of the beach, adding a golf course and expanding industry.

Although the plan was prepared by a panel of national experts experienced in cracking tough development questions, members of the Ormond Beach Task Force take issue with those findings because they call for too many homes that would infringe on wildlife, industrial growth and the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu.