Pressure Play

Here in the Tierra Rejada Valley, where the emerald fields and coffee-colored soil form a two-toned patchwork, ranchers have carved a thriving farm belt out of the rolling hills and fertile flatland that make up eastern Ventura County’s last agricultural preserve.

Farmed more intensively now than at any time in the century since it was first planted in apricots, the valley floor is carpeted with kale and sweet corn, pumpkins and peppers, barley and black-eyed peas.

More than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown in the greenbelt that separates Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, a bounty that pushes right to the edge of the 2,200-acre preserve established in 1982 to keep development at arm’s length.

But from where longtime farmer Craig Underwood is standing, it seems development is always pushing back.

Co-owner of Tierra Rejada Family Farm, Underwood need only look up at the nearest ridgeline--where bulldozers are making way for a 552-home development in nearby Moorpark--to know that the county’s agricultural roots are increasingly at odds with suburban sprawl.

“I think there’s always a threat,” Underwood said last week at the pick-your-own farm on Moorpark Road.

“I’d like to see this area flourish and prosper and I think the political will is in place to keep it the way it is,” he added. “But I think every increase in development intensity, even around the edges of the greenbelt, furthers the idea that there’s some potential for development in the future.”

Even with strict new growth-control measures in place, many believe the Tierra Rejada Valley still represents a major battle zone in the ongoing struggle between the forces of urbanization and the traditions of agriculture.

Nearby suburbs continue to squeeze the valley from all sides. In addition to new development crowning the ridgeline to the northwest in Moorpark, waves of homes in nearby Simi Valley end abruptly at the valley’s east entrance, while to the south, development in Thousand Oaks has reached the city limits.

The county’s decision to enter the greenbelt in 1988 to allow creation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum--and a subsequent decision to allow construction of six luxury homes nearby--heightened concerns on the gradual elimination of farmland and open space between the three east county cities.

Most recently, the county’s approval of a golf course and a lighted driving range served to reignite the debate over the future of the rugged open space region.

While the greenbelt agreement shields the valley from large-scale development, and the county’s Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources measure requires voters’ approval to rezone valley land, Supervisor Frank Schillo advocates even stricter protections.

Schillo, whose district borders the Tierra Rejada, favors efforts underway to obtain state and federal grants to buy large chunks of the valley or purchase development rights from landowners. The supervisor said he is also exploring the possibility of floating a tax measure or bond issue to generate money for the same purpose.

“I think what most people are saying is that they want to keep that as a greenbelt but they also want to respect property owners. That is where the funding comes in,” Schillo said. “Even with the protections that are in place, it’s still possible for encroachment to take place. Pretty soon you don’t have a greenbelt anymore, you don’t have separation between cities. Pretty soon you have Reseda.”

Luxury Homes Also Dot Valley Landscape

Farming is not the only enterprise in the Tierra Rejada.

Luxury homes and stately horse ranches dot the landscape. Nurseries and tree farms are scattered among the gentle slopes. But mostly there is farmland, at least 800 acres now growing on both sides of California 23 and a key component of the county’s billion-dollar-a-year agriculture industry.

The valley has changed much over the years.

Once a stop on the stagecoach line that connected San Francisco to Los Angeles, it was first farmed by the Lapeyre family starting in the late 1800s.

Celine L. Gillibrand, whose grandfather, Jean Baptiste Lapeyre, was one of the pioneers, remembers when apricot trees marched in rows across the flatland and cattle and sheep grazed the verdant hillsides.

She and her four sisters were raised in the valley, near where the Reagan library now stands.

“Oh, how it’s changed,” said Gillibrand, 62, who now lives in Simi Valley with her sister, Jeanne Lapeyre Canty.

“I am ever so grateful that I was raised in such a beautiful area,” she said. “Hopefully, that area will hold. I would like us to grow in a very conservative manner and protect what we have. I think Los Angeles should be the poster child for what we ought not to do.”

Hundreds Trek to Farm on Weekends

Relatively speaking, farmer Rick Brecunier is a short-timer in the Tierra Rejada. Co-owner of the valley’s oldest ranch, Brecunier started farming the area in 1970, joining an operation started by his father-in-law in 1935.

That acreage has supported a range of crops over the years--oranges and walnuts and every manner of vegetable. Brecunier began planting pumpkins when he came on board, out of which grew the popular pick-your-own-produce operation he co-owns with Craig Underwood.

Hundreds of people descend on the rural setting on weekends, picking what they will put on the dinner table at night. Busloads of schoolchildren tour the working farm and fill plastic bags with fresh-picked produce, stunned by the idea that vegetables come from the ground rather than grocery store bins. The operation also features a nursery, a small animal farm and horse-drawn wagon rides.

“Over the years, it just made more sense, certainly economic sense, to get out of the wholesale vegetable business and do as much retail as we could,” said Brecunier, who owns 170 acres, including the land on which the Family Farm opens for business from March through November.

There was a time when Brecunier was the only one doing any farming in the Tierra Rejada.

Until the mid-80s, much of the land lay fallow. Then two growers moved to the area from the San Fernando Valley and put about 400 acres back into production. Boskovich Farms has since taken over that property and continues to pump out produce.

Brecunier said he believes the greenbelt agreement and the SOAR growth-control measure approved by voters in 1998 have effectively put the valley off-limits to anyone who had hoped to buy up land and hold onto it for its big-dollar development potential.

But he said those same restrictions have also served to sink land values in the valley, adding another layer of worry for area farmers already struggling to stay afloat amid a wave of falling prices and increased costs.

Brecunier said he doesn’t disagree with the public’s desire to keep green, open space between cities. But he said some mechanism should be found to compensate landowners for providing the scenery and open space the community so fervently desires.

“It’s not my proposal to turn it into suburbia, but on the other hand I don’t think the people in New York City expected the guy who owned Central Park to keep it that way free of charge,” said Brecunier, adding that Sonoma County taxpayers imposed a half-cent sales tax on themselves years ago to buy open space and development rights.

“This is a tenuous business--I don’t think the public realizes how tenuous it all is,” he said. “As a family member, I have to be mindful how I am using our family’s resources, whether our interests are being served by investing in farming or not. Our farm is basically our 401(k) plan. We can’t afford to invest in farming just for the sake of having a farm.”

Indeed, there is much more than just development pressures that threaten agriculture in Tierra Rejada and elsewhere in the county.

George Boskovich, chairman of Boskovich Farms, says he sometimes wishes he had never taken up farming in the valley.

Shifts in the climate are too drastic to make full use of the land year round, he said. And yields are lower than, say, the Oxnard Plain, where more temperate weather makes for better crop production.

“Commercial farming in that area is a losing proposition,” Boskovich said. “I don’t want it to appear like houses are pushing us out. Even if there weren’t any houses around, there still aren’t enough good reasons to farm.”

Not All Share Development Fears

At Elvenstar Ranch and Riding School, a nationally renowned riding academy launched two decades ago on the rolling hills east of California 23, owner Jim Hagman doesn’t share the alarm expressed by some in the valley.

Sure, development pressures have come and gone over the years, he said. But Hagman said he sees virtually no chance these days of the valley ever developing to any degree beyond what is now allowed.

That isn’t to say, however, there hasn’t been some growth. There are probably now half a dozen horse stables and training facilities in the Tierra Rejada Valley. Hagman even has a couple of new neighbors, a nursery that opened just down the hill, and the Tom Barber Golf Center, a driving range that opened earlier this year.

But Hagman said members of the public have made it clear to politicians and prospective developers that they want the valley to stay essentially the way it is.

“You can see why we’re not going anywhere,” said Hagman, sitting atop a Dutch warmblood horse at the 12-acre ranch, a bucolic setting of dirt paths and white-fenced corrals that caters to 300 riders of all ages and skill levels.

“We love it here and the politicians know it,” he said. “And all these kids here have parents. We could raise an uproar like you wouldn’t believe.”

Tom Barber knows what that sounds like. While many people, including Hagman, supported creation of his driving range, plenty of others opposed the project, arguing it didn’t belong in the greenbelt and would be unsightly, increase traffic and encourage further development.

Supervisors agreed, with Schillo dissenting, to approve the project.

Since then, the only other major project approved for the area has been an 18-hole golf course across the street from the driving range.

Barber, who opened for business in April, said he believes the driving range has fit perfectly in the Tierra Rejada Valley.

“If people want to keep something green, look at the Tom Barber Golf Center,” he said. “Literally, we are the greenest of the greenbelt.”

That is essentially the reasoning Supervisor Judy Mikels used when she voted in favor of the project.

Mikels, whose district includes the Tierra Rejada Valley, said the driving range was exactly the type of low-density project that belongs in the area. She said at the time that the language of the greenbelt agreement stated the area should be preserved for agriculture and other uses compatible with open space, which, according to county code, includes outdoor recreation.

Now that strict land-use controls are in place, Mikels said she doesn’t see any reason to pursue government grants--or ask voters to tax themselves--to further safeguard the area.

“It would be an absurd waste of taxpayer dollars to buy development rights because there are no rights out there to develop,” she said. “It makes good political headlines, and it gets a lot of ink, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Moorpark Mayor Leading New Push

Moorpark Mayor Pat Hunter doesn’t see it that way.

He is spearheading an effort in the east county to obtain state and federal grants to buy up land in the Tierra Rejada.

While the plan is still in its formative stages, Hunter said he hopes in the next 60 days to assemble a committee of officials from the three cities, the county and perhaps even the Reagan library to lay the foundation for the program.

Money to buy the land could come from special federal accounts set up for land and water conservation and farmland protection. Assistance might also come from a new state farmland conservation program. Two state propositions passed in March, providing $3 billion for urban parks and water projects, also might be tapped to help buy the greenbelt.

Hunter said offers would only be made to willing sellers and any land purchased would be placed in a public trust. He said he has enlisted the aid of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) in tapping whatever money is available.

And he said Moorpark officials have agreed to hire a consultant to get the project off the ground.

“Now is the time to move if we want to protect the Tierra Rejada Valley from further encroachment,” said Hunter, adding that one only need look at the county’s approval of the driving range and golf course to know the greenbelt needs further protection.

“We are talking about a years-long process, so we have to start envisioning now what we’d like to see 20, 30 or 40 years down the road,” he added. “We have a unique opportunity and we shouldn’t let it pass.”

From his vantage point at Tierra Rejada Family Farm, Underwood agrees it’s a unique opportunity for a unique place.

And for all the squabbling about land values and development rights, all the head-to-head conflicts between suburban encroachment and agricultural interests, Underwood says he still can’t imagine a better way to make a living or a better place to coax crops from the ground.

“I love it out here,” he said recently as a group of summer camp kids pulled up in a big yellow bus and scurried out to the fields to become farmers for the day.

“Out here we get direct feedback. If people like it they ask you to plant more,” he said. “You just drop off the freeway and you find yourself in the middle of this oasis.”