Vote Looms Large for Santa Paula’s Future Growth

Voters in Santa Paula, the small town with big-city aspirations, face a ballot measure Tuesday that could forever reshape the blue-collar community of fewer than 30,000.

Pinnacle Development Group, an Arizona developer, has joined with Arnold Dahlberg, a San Diego County-based owner of thousands of acres northwest of the Ventura County city, to propose Adams Canyon Preserve -- 495 ultra-luxury homes dotting the canyon of the same name.

Because the 6,500-acre site is outside Santa Paula’s borders, growth-control rules require that the City Urban Restriction Boundary, or CURB, be expanded before the property can be annexed to the self-proclaimed “Citrus Capital of the World.” Measure Y, the issue before voters, asks whether the boundary should be expanded. A simple majority is needed for it to pass.

The Adams Canyon project would more than double the size of Santa Paula and quadruple the amount of public parkland. Developers have said it would be built gradually, over 20 years.

Supporters say Adams Canyon Preserve would attract upscale residents with household incomes in excess of $600,000 and provide a steady stream of much-needed tax dollars -- adding up to nearly $22 million a year, or almost 80% of the city’s projected 2005-2006 expenditures, once it was completed.

“There will be money generated from this land that’s either going to the county or to Santa Paula. This is an absolute no-brainer,” said 39-year resident Cheryl Baudizzon, owner of a quilt and gift shop in the city’s century-old downtown.

Baudizzon, co-chairwoman of a community organization called One Santa Paula, said she supports Measure Y because the city desperately needs more revenue to improve its infrastructure and maintain vital municipal services.

“Santa Paula is like a ghost town. There are potholes all over the place. Our police and firemen are the lowest paid in the county,” she said.

Voters likely will be asked this fall to approve a utility tax to support public safety salaries. They soundly rejected a similar measure in November 2004 that would have raised about $1.3 million annually.

Adams Canyon opponents criticize the developers’ attempt to get public approval of a plan before preparing any environmental analysis or holding public hearings to explain the proposal in detail.

“They’re asking for a heck of a lot in exchange for not a lot of specifics. And they don’t give a lot of benefits guaranteed,” said resident Mike Miller, who works with an agency that develops affordable housing projects in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. He said developer promises can’t be trusted until there are binding contracts.

As of April 1, developers had spent $712,039 on their campaign for approval, while the nonprofit Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources had spent $31,841. Miller said the developers’ money could have been better spent.

“Why not spend the money working with Santa Paulans to determine what the best plan will be?” he asked.

More than two-thirds of Santa Paula residents are Latino. The median home price in the city is $516,000. In the 2000 census, the city’s median household income was $41,651.

Developers of Adams Canyon Preserve have said each custom-built dwelling would cost at least $2.5 million and lots would average 12 acres. The plan also calls for a 200-room luxury hotel and spa and a private, 18-hole golf course and country club facility. Developers also have said they would dedicate at least 100 acres to parks, and 40 acres more to the high school district, either as a site for a high school or to develop affordable housing for teachers and other government employees, such as firefighters and police officers.

Greg Boyd, project manager of Adams Canyon Preserve, said homeowners would be restricted from building on more than about two acres of their parcels, so roughly 80% of the land would remain untouched.

To accommodate affordable housing, the developers have said they would buy up to 20 acres elsewhere in the city to build up to 200 units.

Developers also have pledged upfront payments of $12 million to the elementary school district and $5 million to the high school district. They say they expect to create 700 permanent new jobs between the hotel and country club, and 300 construction jobs over two decades of building.

Boyd defended the strategy of seeking voter approval before spending years to process an environmental impact report, hold public hearings and negotiate a final development agreement.

He pointed to the failure of North Park Village and Nature Preserve in nearby Moorpark, which took the approach of completing a detailed proposal before seeking voter review. Developers spent more than four years and millions of dollars fine-tuning a 1,680-home project, only to have it rejected last month by a 3-to-1 margin.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous from a business standpoint to go through all that expense up front without knowing if you can even build it,” Boyd said. “We came up with an alternative: Let’s come up with some strict guidelines and get the approval up front.”