GROWTH-CONTROL PETITIONERS NEAR SIGNATURE GOAL; COUNTY, CITY INITIATIVES SOUGHT.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

With petitions due Monday to put a farmland and open space preservation initiative on the county and city ballots in November, supporters will wrap up a two-month campaign this weekend collecting last-minute signatures.

In Thousand Oaks, Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources petitioners said they will be out in full force throughout the weekend.

Signatures of about 7,000 registered voters are needed to get the issue onto the city ballot. Backers said they have collected about 8,000 signatures so far, but expect some will prove to be signatures of residents who are not registered or live outside the city.

``I think Thousand Oaks will be the nail-biter this time,'' said Linda Parks, the city's mayor pro tem, heading up the local petition drive. ``I think if we don't qualify, it will be very close.''

SOAR advocates hope to vote on a countywide initiative that would require the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to get voter approval before rezoning agricultural land and open space for commercial and residential developments.

Additionally, Camarillo, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Santa Paula and Thousand Oaks petitioners want sister initiatives on the ballot to require the city council in each community to get voter approval before annexing agricultural land and open space and rezoning it for development.

Oxnard City Council members voted earlier this year to put a SOAR initiative on their city's ballot.

``The different initiatives really work hand in hand,'' said Lisa Burton, a Ventura resident who helped pass that city's SOAR initiative in 1995 and who has helped organize the countywide initiative campaign this year. ``The one county initiative protects the land in the first place, and the other initiatives require cities to keep within a growth boundary or go to a vote.''

Supporters said the initiatives are needed to protect green belts and maintain open space around cities, rather than let them sprawl into each other. But opponents said the initiatives threaten private property rights and could lower zoning standards and inflate land prices.

If the initiatives make it onto the ballot, voters will decide on Nov. 3.

Since March 20, the county initiative has gained more than 40,000 signatures, providing a comfortable cushion over the needed 22,300 signatures.

Burton said the goal this weekend is to see the cities come through with enough signatures to put their local initiatives on the ballot as well.

The Simi Valley SOAR group announced Thursday that it will submit 9,200 signatures for the local initiative on Monday. Just under 6,000 of them must pass election officials' screening to get the measure onto the city ballot.

Lori Rutter, leading the effort in Moorpark, where 1,564 signatures are needed, said the local group met its goal earlier this week with more than 2,600.

Moorpark will celebrate its 15th anniversary of cityhood July 1, and Rutter said many residents are concerned about the growth spurt that has changed their small town of 3,265 homes to one of more than 9,000 homes. Some are especially worried about proposed Hidden Creek development that could bring 3,221 more homes into the city within 20 years, Rutter said.

Parks said the proposed county initiative is the kingpin in the SOAR campaign, but city measures are critical as well.

``Even if the county lands are protected, there would be nothing to prevent cities from annexing SOAR-protected land from the county and up-zoning it for development. So we need this two-pronged approach,'' she said.

Critics, however, maintain that the initiative threatens to end the city's control over developers on adjacent unincorporated territory and could raise costs of vacant land and housing inside the city.