Characterization of Santa Paula SOAR Measure

* The way the Santa Paula SOAR initiative has been simplistically mischaracterized as a “no-growth measure” has become a sore subject for me.

Although SOAR stands for Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources, in reality it gives no guarantee that either of these things will be “saved.” What is lost in all of the rhetoric is that SOAR, in and of itself, does not and cannot stop growth.

As a matter of fact, SOAR does nothing at all to change the initial process by which proposed land-use decisions are brought to the table. The only salient change comes at the end of the existing process in which the City Council and the Local Agency Formation Commission go through procedures that result in mandates for development. It is only at this point that SOAR would allow Santa Paula voters the right of final approval.

It is misleading for SOAR opponents to argue that “the sacred property rights of landowners as guaranteed by the Constitution” will somehow be controlled or usurped by SOAR. This task has always fallen to the City Council and LAFCO.

Like it or not, the simple truth is that we do not have an inalienable right to do whatever we please with our property. This was true long before the advent of SOAR. It’s just one of those pesky nuisances that comes with living in civilization.

The only two spokesman who have come forward to oppose SOAR by virtue of signing the arguments that will appear in the voter information pamphlet are the mayor and vice mayor of Santa Paula. My message to them is this: In the final analysis, SOAR would not prohibit growth. All it would do is give the voters of Santa Paula the right to validate the wisdom of your decisions.

It logistically follows that the only valid argument you can make against the Santa Paula SOAR is that the issues at hand are too complex to be understood by Santa Paula voters or that they are incapable of making intelligent decisions at the ballot box. If you choose to make this case, you must also be willing to accept the irony that these are the same people who voted you into office in the first place.

JOHN MELTON

Former Mayor, Councilman

Santa Paula