COUNTYWIDE : Work Begins on Regional Blueprint

Faced with a dramatic population increase, growing ethnic diversity and myriad economic challenges, Ventura County must join forces with other Southern California counties in planning for the future, officials from a regional planning agency said Wednesday.

Population projections show that Southern California will grow from 15 1/2 million inhabitants to 24 million over the next two decades, according to demographers.

Representatives from the Southern California Assn. of Governments held a news conference at an Oxnard hotel to announce that they have begun work on their Regional Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for the region’s next two decades.

The plan will be ready for public comment in January or February, 1993, Principal Planner David Stein said.

The idea behind the plan is to gather input from experts in different fields to plan for the region’s long-term future, Stein said. The plan will link such diverse issues as transportation, the economy, housing, social services and pollution into an integrated document, he said.

“This is an opportunity to work with businesses and citizen groups as partners,� said Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn, one of the county’s representatives on the regional body.