A Plan and a Price Tag

High-flying entrepreneurs sometimes joke about projects done with “OPM financing.”

That’s Other People’s Money, and, in a sense, it’s how Ventura County foots the bill to keep its open spaces open.

Approved resoundingly by voters in 1998, the county’s SOAR (Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources) ordinance prevents the sale of farmland to developers without approval at the polls. Consequently, growers are kept from cashing in and the public is afforded a guarantee against sprawl without spending a cent.

Now, though, the county is thinking about keeping land green the old-fashioned way--by buying it.

Supervisors John Flynn and Frank Schillo are promoting the formation of an open-space district that would acquire choice scenic or agricultural properties in order to keep them undeveloped. The notion surfaced two years ago in Measure A, an advisory proposal that drew 68% of the vote.

On paper, it’s a fine idea, but in practice it will test just how much county residents are willing to sacrifice for the rural ambience that drew many of them here in the first place.

Ten other California counties have secured legislative permission to create such districts. Four of them, though, have failed to coax financial support from local voters and couldn’t acquire a dry puddle.

In Ventura County, the lament that “we don’t want to be another San Fernando Valley” is heard so often it might as well be added to the county seal. But, to avoid the sprawl that gobbled up pristine lands to the south, Ventura County residents ultimately will be forced to put their money where their mouths are.

To fund an open-space district, will they be willing to vote in a sales-tax increase? A bond issue? Parcel taxes on property near the land to be condo-proofed in perpetuity?

The questions are worth asking--and worth repeating, as details of the district are fleshed out. After all, SOAR expires in 19 years; spending prudently before that could ease the sting when OPM is no longer an option.