Santa Paula Boundary Initiative Heads to Court

Supporters of Santa Paula’s Measure F are asking a judge to delete what they call “false and misleading” statements filed by opponents about how the initiative would affect city growth.

Measure F, set to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, asks voters whether 5,400-acre Adams Canyon should be included in the city’s growth boundary.

Arguments against the measure submitted for an information guide falsely tell voters that a yes vote would allow a massive 2,200-home development to be built there, supporters of the measure said.

The initiative’s backers are taking their fight to court next week, when they will ask a judge to delete statements that they said are false or misleading.

Jim Garfield, who favors the initiative, said the measure asks only for approval to change the city’s growth boundary. If it is approved, any development proposal that follows would still have to go through several public reviews, including approval by the City Council, before construction could occur.

“They are not saying that at some point a development will come forward,” said Garfield, a Realtor and former city councilman. “They are saying that this vote will allow the development. They are offering conjecture. Who knows what form that proposal will take?”

Opponents of the initiative could not be reached for comment.

A hearing is set for Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson. The petitioners want Johnson to order Santa Paula City Clerk Steven J. Salas to delete the material that they say is untrue.

County Clerk Richard Dean, who supervises elections in Ventura County, would be asked to do the same. Although ballots will begin to be printed this week, Dean said it should not be a problem to delete material if ordered to do so.

Initiatives come near the end of the ballot and are usually the last part of the package to be printed, Dean said. But the clerk’s office cannot wait beyond next week to finish printing, he said.

Santa Paula’s growth debate has intensified in recent years. When most other cities in the county passed growth limits in 1998, Santa Paula rejected the effort.

But in 2000, voters approved Measure I, which drew a growth boundary around the city. The initiative now before voters seeks to redraw that line to include Adams Canyon.