Ventura County Perspective; PERSPECTIVE IN FAVOR OF SOAR . . .; Measure A Complements, Strengthens Open-Space Initiatives; Guidelines on the November ballot would seek to protect greenbelts and oversee establishment of urban growth boundaries Ventura County Edition

• Published in: The Los Angeles times
• Main Author: Schillo, Frank
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 04.10.1998
• ISSN: 0458-3035

Nearly 1,000 acres of prime farmland in Ventura County gives way to the bulldozer each year for tract homes and malls. Once the land is paved over, it's gone forever--there's no turning back. Next month, voters will let us know how they feel about keeping our greenbelts and open spaces intact and our prime farmland away from development. Some have said that Measure A is in competition to the several SOAR--Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources--initiatives on the ballot in November. In reality, Measure A would complement the SOAR initiatives by providing sound guidelines to not only fully protect our greenbelts but oversee establishment of urban growth boundaries. Measure A would add strength to the SOAR initiatives in three ways: First, it would provide a two-year moratorium prohibiting any changes to the current exterior boundaries of the county's 10 cities until urban growth boundaries were developed and approved by the voters. Second, it would adopt by ordinance six existing and five proposed greenbelts, which would permanently separate our cities from urban sprawl. And third, it would establish an open space conservation district that would receive public and private funds to acquire open space and farmland, which would be dedicated as open space in perpetuity.