Adams Canyon Development

Adams Canyon has problems that the leaders of Santa Paula seem to be glossing over. Here are just a few issues that affect both potential residents of the proposed 5,400-acre development (that’s twice the size of Santa Paula) and those who live outside and below it:

* Water: From where and how would enough be obtained for 1,280 houses, 180 condos, 90 apartments, two schools, two hotels and, especially, two golf courses? Yet in a severe rainstorm, a barranca cannot handle the current runoff--let alone additional runoff from paved-over land. And yes, there have been rescues from rooftops of Faulkner Road flood victims.

* Earthquakes and landslides: The San Cayetano fault runs along the ridge; the hillsides are fragile, with La Conchita-type slippages.

* Fire: In the past few years there have been two disastrous fast-moving dry-brush conflagrations. How would the proposed 10,000 residents escape through the bottleneck exit?

* Traffic: Foothill Road would be a major artery for Adams Canyon--26,800 vehicles daily. A narrow, two-lane, shoulderless country road, Foothill is made up of blind curves, dips and humps big enough to hide approaching cars. The morning users would consist of commuters late for jobs in Ventura, Oxnard, Point Mugu and Los Angeles and students late for college classes. Already they are a hazard.

Because I live just outside city limits, I have no power to vote on issues. I can only watch with concern--and sigh.

CLARA D. WHITE

Santa Paula