Council Backs Petition Drive for Growth Limit Law

CAMARILLO — With the support of the City Council, backers of a proposed growth limiting ordinance will launch a petition drive in hopes of turning the measure into law.

Council members said Wednesday night that once the group gathers the necessary 3,400 signatures, the council will decide whether to adopt the ordinance outright or to place it before voters in November. The group could have collected signatures even without the council’s endorsement.

Under the proposed ordinance, Camarillo officials could not annex any property until 2020 without voter approval.

The ordinance was inspired by a proposed countywide farmland protection measure known as Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources, or SOAR. Oxnard, Moorpark and Simi Valley are also considering similar measures to limit growth.

SOAR organizers in those three cities plan to launch petition drives in March.

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Proponents of the Camarillo initiative will file a notice of intention to circulate petitions with the city next week and intend to deliver the signatures to the City Council by June 1.

Council members gave some indication Wednesday that they are divided over how best to deal with the issue.

Mayor Charlotte Craven and Councilman Mike Morgan, for instance, urged the council to take matters into its own hands and adopt the measure immediately.

Councilmen Stanley Daily and Kevin Kildee, however, said they favored placing the initiative on the November ballot.

“We need to go with the will of the people,” Daily said. “It’s the electoral democratic process and it will let us know the tenor of the city.”

But Richard Francis, author of the countywide SOAR initiative who also helped craft the city’s proposed ordinance, said he never would have made certain concessions if he had known that the measure might be placed on the ballot.

At the city’s request, Francis reworded the ordinance to include the soon-to-be annexed McGrath property off Central Avenue, where an agricultural theme park has been proposed. He also decreased the amount of time the growth ordinance would be in effect by 10 years.

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“I went the extra mile to make concessions with the council because I was led to believe the council would adopt this after we gathered the signatures and we could forgo the electoral process,” Francis said.

Councilman Bill Liebmann said he also thought the council should forgo an election and adopt the ordinance once the necessary signatures are gathered. He said it would only confuse voters if both the city and the countywide ordinances were on the fall ballot.

“What we have before us is nothing more than what has been a long-standing policy of this city,” Liebmann said. “I don’t think it is necessary to put our citizens through the heat of a contested election.”

There is one major difference between the city and county proposals: Camarillo’s ordinance would allow the City Council to continue to make zoning changes within the city’s boundaries, but the SOAR initiative would freeze the county’s existing zoning until 2020.

Despite some disagreement with the council, Francis said Wednesday that he was pleased with its action.

“This does demonstrate that citizens and their government can work together to mutual benefit,” he said.