OPEN SPACE GROUP GETS ENOUGH FUNDS TO PUSH INITIATIVE.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Leaders of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources said Monday they have raised enough money for a campaign to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would mandate voter approval to rezone lands set aside for open space and agriculture outside of Ventura County's cities.

The group, known as SOAR, is aiming for the Nov. 3 election. Companion efforts also are planned to get similar land protection measures approved in Sim Valley, Camarillo and Oxnard, said Steve Bennett, who organized the successful SOAR effort in Ventura three years ago and is leading the countywide campaign.

``We're in a no-turn-back mode,'' Bennett said.

At the same time, a group of government and business leaders is pushing an alternative. Established by the county Board of Supervisors, the Agriculture Policy Working Group is expected to propose ways to preserve farmland in the face of development as the county grows past its current population of 717,000.

Supervisor Judy Mikels said that is a better way to truly keep farming viable because it will allow for solutions including buying developable land to keep it in farming.

``We're talking land planning by ballot initiative. What the Agriculture Policy Working Group is doing is talking about the viability of an entire industry,'' Mikels said. ``Saying you're not going to develop any farmland is not going to save the farm industry.''

SOAR leaders contend the working group likely won't produce any significant changes in land use policy that would alter the pace at which the county is carved by development.

The group successfully campaigned for a measure that requires Ventura voters to approve any amendment to the city's General Plan that would convert agricultural land. The California Supreme Court recently decided not to review the measure.

``The fact that it went all the way to the Supreme Court and was still upheld, that gives people confidence that there is something that they can do that is legal that will actually protect open space,'' Bennett said.

Triggering the decision to launch the petition effort was the group's ability to raise $83,000 toward a $150,000 total Bennett said is needed for a countywide campaign. Thousand Oaks attorney Edward Masry contributed $15,000, but most contributions have been much less and from many different people, Bennett said.

``We knew we wouldn't get to the $150,000 at this point, but we had to have confidence we will get there,'' he said. ``We've had over 1,000 people in the county give us money, and that's what gives us confidence.''

SOAR will aim for 40,000 signatures to ensure there are the required 23,000 signatures from registered voters in the county to qualify the measure for the ballot. The deadline is June 1.

The campaign will be led by volunteers. The centerpiece will be two mailings to all of the county's 125,000 households, Bennett said.

If it makes the ballot, the measure has a good chance of passing given the significant public debate about farmland preservation.

``My feeling is if they qualify it, it will win. I would put my money on it winning,'' Mikels said.

Supervisor John Flynn agreed with that assessment. But he credited the agricultural working group with raising awareness and said there still would be a need for changes in land use policy.

``Through our meetings, I think, we've generated a lot of interest,'' Flynn said. ``I feel it will pass. But it's probably not as black and white as it would appear.''

At stake in the county's unincorporated areas are 113,000 acres of tillable land and 220,000 acres of open space, according to the agricultural working group.

Agriculture is still the county's top grossing industry, generating more than $1 billion in sales and sustaining about 20,000 jobs annually. But the county loses about 1,100 acres of farmland annually, according to studies.

The agriculture working group has four growth scenarios through 2030 that begin with the county's current population of 717,000 and 113,000 acres of farmland. They range from freezing city boundaries and their General Plan land-use designations to assuming greater population growth than current projections and new towns emerging in previously unincorporated areas.