City Study Critical of SOAR Draws Fire

Residents supporting a Save Open Space and Agriculture Resources initiative are criticizing city leaders over past development decisions they say are undermining community trust.

Plans to dip into 200 acres of a proposed greenbelt and surround a productive fish hatchery with luxury homes were some reasons why Fillmore needs a stringent SOAR measure, supporters said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The SOAR initiative is headed for the November ballot.

Another reason was the Newhall Land decision, said slow-growth supporter Paul Harding. The council accepted $300,000 from the developer to offset traffic impacts in exchange for dropping out of a lawsuit by Ventura County against the company’s proposed housing development.

Recently, a judge in that case temporarily blocked construction by Newhall, which plans a 21,500-home project 12 miles east of Fillmore.

The criticism followed the release of a report by City Manager Roy Payne on the effects a slow-growth measure might have on the city’s bottom line.

Growth, Payne wrote, is already controlled by other government plans, and deviating from them will mean less money to spend on fire and police services.

SOAR supporters called the study a scare tactic and further proof that elected leaders are out of step.

Payne contends that the citizens’ initiative, which pulls back the city’s growth boundaries to within current city limits, would stymie growth and risk forfeiting money spent on waste water equipment.

“We issued bonds for these projects, and it’s like a home mortgage--we have to pay the money back,” Payne said.

The measure also would eliminate a $500,000 profit expected from the riverside housing development, he said.