Home developers look to Ventura's hills

By John Scheibe

July 28, 2000 Web posted at: 11:32 AM EDT (1532 GMT)

VENTURA, California (The Ventura County Star) -- A group of property owners and Ventura city officials have been quietly meeting for at least two years about developing a huge swath of land along the chaparral-covered hills and canyons north of Ventura.

The proposed development of up to 2,000 expensive homes could encompass at least 5,000 acres, said Larry Bucher, president of Lloyd Properties, one of the landowners.

The project would stretch along the city's northern boundaries from Ventura Avenue on the west to at least Victoria Avenue on the east, said Susan Daluddung, city director of community development. It would include upscale homes as well as a regional park filled with nature trails and vistas of downtown Ventura and the sea.

"We would definitely want to make it accessible to the public," Bucher said.

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Bucher said the project would allow the city to increase its stock of "executive housing" while providing the public with plenty of open space.

But environmentalists and others are concerned.

Richard Francis, co-author of Ventura's Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources growth- control law and a former mayor, said he has yet to take a position on the project. He is concerned, however, about the private negotiations so far between landowners and city officials.

"What gets people mad is when these things occur behind closed doors," Francis said. "These are issues that need to be discussed in public."

Because much or all of the land is not zoned for agriculture, the project would not be subject to Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources' requirement that any development of farmland needs voter approval.

The land is now outside city limits, but proponents would try to annex it into Ventura before developing it.

Francis said some opponents recently approached him, asking that he draft a tougher version of S.O.A.R. "precisely because of this project." He said a new S.O.A.R. could require that all negotiations occur in public.

"It would make the whole process much more democratic," he said.

But Ventura Mayor Sandy Smith said Thursday that a series of hearings will be held involving the public, developers and city officials, possibly as early as September. "The public will have plenty of opportunity to be involved," he said.

The project would allow Ventura for the first time in its history to develop a comprehensive master plan for managing open space, Smith said. It's something called for in the city's Vision plan, a citizen-drafted document containing guidelines for Ventura's social, economic and cultural development.

City officials have insisted during the talks that developers not build along ridgetops, keeping this land instead as open space accessible to the public, Smith said.

"Only the canyons would be built on," he said.

Daluddung said the project would cover an array of land. Some of it is now used for cattle grazing. It also includes the ridge lines east of Ventura Avenue, an area once filled with oil wells and derricks.

Daluddung said some of the project might be eligible for "Brownfield" federal grants. The grants help communities redevelop and clean up areas contaminated by industrial waste. The city already has received a $200,000 grant to identify potential cleanup sites in west Ventura.

Several Ventura City Council members, including Brian Brennan, said the city's supply of executive housing is small compared with nearby communities. Camarillo, for example, is home to Spanish Hills, one of the county's most expensive tracts.

"Having more executive housing in Ventura would be a huge draw to the city for companies and investors," Brennan said.

Because the project is still in its infancy, numerous issues remain unresolved, such as proposed routes for new roads leading into the hills. Parts of the site are geologically unstable and prone to landslides. Daluddung said extensive studies -- and probably much stabilization work -- will be needed.

"These are issues which could be discussed during the workshops with the public," she said.

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