Like Its Newborns, County Will Grow
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The next frontier for growth control in Ventura County may be even closer to home than not-in-my-back-yard: Of the 9,300 new residents added to the local population in 1998, two-thirds arrived not by moving van but via maternity ward--they were born here.
Those figures come from population estimates released last week by the state Department of Finance. They show that Ventura County grew by just 1.3% last year, the slowest rate of increase among Southern California’s seven counties. That brought the Ventura County population as of Jan. 1 to 742,000--12th largest county in California.
Ventura County grew more slowly than the rest of Southern California because for the past decade eight of the county’s 10 cities have had ordinances that limit the number of building permits issued each year. In years ahead, the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) measures passed by voters last fall are likely to further restrict population growth.
Looks like someone forgot to fax a copy of SOAR to the stork.
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