Judge Keeps Church Project Initiative on Ballot

A Superior Court judge opened the door Friday for the first public vote under a SOAR growth-control measure, refusing to strike from the November ballot an initiative seeking voter approval of church construction on east Ventura farmland.

But one more legal hurdle stands in the way of the First Assembly of God’s effort to build a new sanctuary, sports fields and running track on 26 acres at the northwest corner of Montgomery Avenue and North Bank Drive.

Although retired Superior Court Judge John Hunter rejected the major tenets of slow-growth leader Richard Francis’ lawsuit against the project, the judge agreed to schedule a Sept. 3 hearing on a new issue raised by Francis this week.

“It ain’t over until it’s over,” Francis said after Friday’s hearing. “We wouldn’t be coming back unless there is something substantive to discuss.”

The Oxnard attorney contends that key language about a zoning change needed for the development was not included in paperwork shown to the public when supporters collected more than 7,000 signatures to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

Francis said he wasn’t aware of the issue when he originally filed the lawsuit, and only recently brought it to the judge’s attention.

Despite the remaining legal issue, proponents of the church project called Friday’s ruling a victory and remained confident that the initiative would go before city voters this fall.

“The original complaint was thrown out,” said James F. Rupp, the Oxnard lawyer representing the church. “We think two weeks from now we will get it on the ballot.”

The church’s proposal is the first to test the growth-control provision, known as Save Our Agricultural Resources, or SOAR, which was approved by Ventura voters in 1995.

Similar measures have since been approved in several Ventura County cities and the county, which prevent development from expanding beyond designated borders without a vote of the people.

Because the land on which the church wants to build is zoned for agriculture--and protected by SOAR--church leaders have been forced to put their project to a public vote.

In June, they gathered enough signatures to qualify a measure for the ballot. Francis, one of the chief architects of SOAR, filed a lawsuit a month later.

The lawsuit contended that supporters failed to disclose vital information--including a text of the city’s General Plan and a land-use planning map--to residents who signed petitions.

It also alleged that the ballot measure was so ill-defined that it had the potential to mislead and confuse voters.

Hunter ruled otherwise, siding with church leaders who have argued all along that the petitions contained enough detail so that residents knew what they were signing.

Francis said Friday he is not trying to kill the church proposal, but wants to ensure that projects that arise under SOAR are clearly defined and easily understood as voters exercise their power to decide when, or if, development should occur on farmland.

“I think it sets a terrible precedent,” he said, “and that is why I felt I had to file a lawsuit.”

After years of delays and disappointments, church leaders just want to move forward with their plans.

The congregation has grown considerably in recent years and needs more space, Rev. Jim Deck said. The church originally purchased its property in 1986, and submitted plans for development before SOAR was approved.

But the growth-control measure passed before the church’s proposal reached the City Council, forcing supporters to take the project directly to voters.

If the initiative is placed on the November ballot and approved, Deck hopes construction of the athletic fields would be completed by the summer of 2000.

As proposed, the sanctuary would be open for concerts and community events, and the athletic fields would be available to the public.

“We’re not a political body, we just want to build our church, our athletic fields and our educational facilities for the community to use,” Deck said. “We never expected to be here.”

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Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.