INITIATIVES ARE HELPING AGRICULTURE FLOURISH IN COUNTY SOAR HAS PRESERVED VALUABLE FARMLAND.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

MOORPARK - A series of voter-approved initiatives beginning in 1995 has helped protect Ventura County's open space and farmland from urban sprawl, contributing to $1 billion-plus annual crops for the past six years, officials say.

Despite large construction projects throughout Ventura County on farmland that is not protected under the initiatives, officials say the county might have had rampant residential construction like that in Orange and Los Angeles counties had the measures not been in place.

``The majority of growers in this county want to continue farming as long as they can,'' said Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail. ``It's important that they have these safeguards so they can continue to farm as long as they want to and as long as their heirs want to.''

McPhail issued his annual crop report last week for 2004 showing record production worth $1.389 billion. The county could be on track for another $1 billion-plus year in 2005.

Ventura County is home to some of the most productive agricultural land in the nation because of its year-round growing climate along the ocean.

In fact, growers of many crops, and in particular of nursery stock, are moving to available land in Ventura County from northern Orange and Los Angeles counties, where agriculture land is being converted to housing, light industry and shopping centers at more rapid rates, McPhail said.

Officials credit the SOAR initiatives, which first passed in 1995 in Ventura and later in neighboring cities, and tax protections under the state's Williamson Act for preserving hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.

The Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) initiatives are slightly different in each city and in unincorporated areas of the county.

Most are based on general plans for development and require voter approval to convert land designated agricultural or open space to other uses. They set up City Urban Restriction Boundaries, or CURBs, around cities so a vote of the people is required before a city can urbanize land outside the CURB lines.

Since the ordinances were adopted, there have been votes required by SOAR in different parts of the county over development proposals and land use changes. In some cases voters have approved the changes.

``SOAR has accomplished a lot, but it didn't spring out of nowhere,'' said Karen Schmidt, executive director of Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources, the organization that led the campaigns to pass the SOAR initiatives.

``SOAR was the culmination of decades of concern about protecting farmland,'' she said. ``SOAR basically just codified the guidelines for orderly development and greenbelt agreements that were written in the 1960s.''

After the Williamson Land Conservation Act of 1965, Ventura County officials set up safeguards and incentives to protect the county's agriculture. Some city officials agreed to greenbelt areas between them, like the Tierra Rejada Valley separating Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark.

Under the Williamson Act, property is taxed on its agriculture value, not on its development values, and property owners have to commit to keeping their land in agricultural use for 10 years. About 70 percent of the land in Ventura County is committed to agriculture under the Williamson Act.

Schmidt said while the SOAR initiatives help protect agriculture, they don't ensure the kind of record crop production that occurred in the county last year.

``Obviously there are going to be good and bad years for agriculture production, as for any business,'' she said. ``But the movement of nurseries to this county from Orange County and Los Angeles points to the fact we have this agricultural land, this very valuable and increasingly rare resource in Southern California that is worth protecting. Just because real estate values are going up, it would be very short-sighted to convert some of the richest farmland in the nation to housing.''

One thing puzzling about driving down the 101/Ventura Freeway in the Camarillo area is seeing prime agriculture land being developed into massive housing projects, in spite of the SOAR initiatives, Schmidt said.

She said this land is not protected by SOAR because it is under the jurisdiction of the city of Camarillo and subject to the city's zoning laws, outside the scope of SOAR.

``Some of the cities drew their SOAR boundaries much more tightly than others. In Camarillo the SOAR boundaries were wide enough that there was some significant farmland that was not protected. Because everybody drives down the 101 and the development is obviously being plopped down on top of prime farmland, people often ask why this isn't being protected by SOAR.''

The SOAR initiatives that encourage developers to build within city limits have helped preserve the greenbelt in the Tierra Rejada Valley, below the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The Tierra Rejada Valley was once proposed as a site for a small city airport, but it remains a pastoral collection of farms and horse ranches, though it is bisected by the 23 Freeway.

Craig Underwood, owner of Underwood Family Farms, raises around 100 crops in the Tierra Rejada Valley and operates a large center there where families can come to see animals, pick their own crops or just buy fruit and vegetables.

Although he said SOAR has not affected his operations, it has directed development to the cities.

``SOAR has definitely set some boundaries for directing developers, keeping development within city limits, and designating where the city limits are going to be. ... There is clearly still a threat from urban sprawl. There is a lot of demand for land here.''

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in Simi edition only) A farmworker prepares a field for planting along Tierra Rejada Road in Moorpark. SOAR initiatives have helped preserve agricultural areas.

(2) Alfonso Lupian tends to a field at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark on Wednesday.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer