Santa Paula and LAFCO

Re “Mikels, LAFCO and Farmland,” Ventura County letters, Feb. 9.

The letters regarding my vote with the Local Agency Formation Commission on Santa Paula’s sphere of influence application require response and clarification. The second letter was so clearly political it could have been written by an opponent in my campaign for state Senate. My only comment to this is that the LAFCO vote was not “to include for ultimate removal a lot of the best agricultural land in Ventura County.” It was, simply, a vote to allow Santa Paula to decide its own future.

On Feb. 2, LAFCO approved a request from the city of Santa Paula to expand around it an imaginary line--a sphere of influence--that identifies the probable ultimate boundaries of the city.

Actual change to the city’s incorporated boundary takes place through annexation. The annexation process is lengthy, detailed and inclusive--and rightfully so. The community will decide how and when, if at all, to grow into the new sphere. The community now has options for planning its future.

Aside from allowing the city options for the future, LAFCO commissioners had to think regionally. When doing so you have to look past the end of your nose and see issues broadly. One such issue is agricultural preservation in the entire county of Ventura.

We can pass all the no-growth ordinances we want and the population of Santa Paula and Ventura County will still increase. It’s simple: More people are born here and move here than die or move away. With this in mind, people will need places to live.

Where do we locate new homes? In this county, it is accepted that urban development belongs in cities. The cities must provide enough housing to serve the population so territory outside the cities--where a vast majority of good farmland is located--will not be pressured by development.

LAFCO had the best interests of both farmland and the future of Santa Paula in mind when it made its decision. Now Santa Paula, as a community, must develop a sound plan that meets the exacting criteria by which annexation may be approved.

JUDY MIKELS

Ventura County supervisor

Simi Valley