Ventura County Denies Bid to Discourage McMansions

Ventura County’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday turned down a zoning change intended to stem the spread of “McMansions” into county open space.

The change would have allowed only one residence for every 20 acres zoned as open space. Current county policy allows one residence per 10 acres.

On a 3-2 vote, supervisors agreed with farmers that Ventura County’s $1-billion agricultural industry could be hurt if minimum lot sizes were increased.

Though the proposal had been portrayed as a way to sustain agriculture, farmers told the Board of Supervisors that the opposite was true. Restricting their ability to subdivide land would make it harder for them to take out loans, some said. Others complained that the change would make it more costly for would-be farmers to buy property and for small organic farms to took root. Several questioned the true intent of the proposed change.

“I truly feel this is another taking of property rights disguised as saving agriculture,” said Tim Cohen, who farms 6,000 acres in Piru. “If you truly want to save agriculture, engage those of us who are in it.”

Supervisors Linda Parks and Steve Bennett, who had proposed the change, argued that unspoiled hillsides across the county would be marred by McMansions unless development was further restricted.

Parks and Bennett, who are leaders in the county’s successful growth-control efforts, said the proposed policy still would have allowed 10-acre lots, but only if the applicant could have proved that such rezoning would not hurt the county’s agricultural industry.

Parks said the big-home trend is evident in the Tierra Rejada Valley near Moorpark, where 10-acre ranchettes have sprung up over the past decade. Some of those hillsides were previously farmed, she said.

“Areas such as the Tierra Rejada Valley are going to be lost to large lots,” she said, adding that she saw the 20-acre proposal “as a small step to preserve those agricultural uses.”

Bennett said that his chief concern was using open space wisely, and that building single-family homes on 10 acres was not an efficient use of property.

He said he was also responding to many Ventura County residents’ strong desire for limited growth. Just last week, he pointed out, Moorpark voters resoundingly rejected a proposed 1,600-home development.

“Those who subdivide do have a voice at the table,” Bennett said, referring to farmers. “But they shouldn’t have the only voice.”

Tuesday’s vote was a rare defeat for Parks and Bennett, who have successfully ushered through several other policies limiting growth in the county’s unincorporated areas.

The majority of supervisors, however, said they saw no compelling reason to change the status quo. Just four of the 1,400 parcels currently designated as open space are being processed for subdivision, they noted.

Supervisor John Flynn said the board’s energies would be better directed helping farmers improve water quality, attract labor and build farmworker housing.