GROUP SEEKS OPEN SPACE MEASURE; PETITION DRIVE AIMS AT INITIATIVE TO SET DEVELOPMENT LIMITS.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

A group of Moorpark residents announced on Wednesday that they would circulate petitions requesting a citywide SOAR initiative on the November ballot.

``There's a train coming at us in Ventura County, and it's going to keep coming unless we stand in front of it,'' said the Moorpark Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources organizer Lori Rutter, referring to the development of open space and agricultural land.

``Our committee, made up of (myself), Roseann Mikos and Joyce Thompson, all of Moorpark, submitted the official declaration of intent to gather qualifying signatures for . . . an initiative that will codify (the city's) urban development boundaries,'' Rutter said in a prepared statement. ``The Moorpark SOAR initiative follows the same pattern as those submitted at the county level and in the cities of Camarillo, Oxnard, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.''

City SOAR initiatives, if passed, would create City Urban Restriction Boundaries around cities. Within those boundaries, property owners could not rezone land dubbed agricultural or open space without voter approval.

In Moorpark, this boundary would match the city's ``sphere of influence,'' an area beyond the city limits but considered to be within the city's area of concern, Rutter said. Restriction boundaries would work in conjunction with boundaries created in unincorporated areas if a countywide SOAR initiative were to pass in November. Organizers are working at both the county and city levels to put both county and city initiatives on the ballot.

Supporters say the initiatives would protect greenbelts around Ventura County cities.

Opponents argue that the initiatives might violate private property rights, lower zoning standards and inflate land prices.

In Moorpark, organizers would have to gather about 3,800 signatures, or 10 percent of the registered voters voting in the last election, to put the measure on the ballot. Once on the ballot, both the county and city initiatives would require a majority yes vote to win.

Rutter said Wednesday that voters in other California counties, such as Sonoma and Napa, have experienced firsthand the ``the inability of traditional planning mechanisms to forestall the ultimate urbanization of other rural or agricultural land. Ventura County activists hope voters will embrace this growth management tool.''

Organizers for the Moorpark SOAR initiative expect to take petitions to the street soon after April 1, Rutter said.

The Moorpark SOAR group will hold a special meeting to train volunteers at 9 a.m., March 28 in the Tuscany Homeowners Cabana located on Clearwood Road, near Moorpark High School. For information about the initiative, call Lori Rutter at [phone].