The SOAR Site

The Five Focus Points

1. Citizens need the final say on how their communities grow.

Currently, land zoned for long-term use as open space or agriculture can be rezoned with a simple majority vote of the city council. Inevitably, pressure to approve massive development projects that allow more sprawl will come from speculators eager to develop the last remaining unprotected open space and farmland in Ventura County.

SOAR will ensure that open space and farmland can only be rezoned for development after receiving a majority vote of the people.

2. Similar measures are successful in other Ventura County cities.

SOAR is not a new or untested concept. Similar measures passed by voters in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark have successfully stopped urban sprawl. SOAR was upheld by the Supreme Court.

3. Productive farmland should not be paved over.

The Heritage Valley's unique climate and rich farmland produces food year-round. SOAR will protect farming by stopping urban sprawl. It is a win-win for everyone if we focus our development within existing urban areas and strengthen the protection of our greenbelts.

Farmers will be spared the problems of urban encroachment, builders will know where they can build, city planners will concentrate on redevelopment, and our cities will preserve their number one industry, agriculture.

4. Urban sprawl erodes our quality of life.

In Fillmore and Santa Paula, for example, we are fortunate to enjoy many advantages of living in a unique, semi-rural environment. Unfortunately, our quality of life is beginning to be threatened by big-city problems: traffic congestion, increased air pollution, crime and crowded schools.

SOAR will guard against runaway, ill-planned growth before the problems associated with urban sprawl get out of hand. A vote for SOAR is a vote for a well-planned city that works.

5. Cities that sprawl together lose their unique identities.

Fillmore and Santa Paula residents live in unique, small-town communities that are separated by open space and greenbelt corridors. Each city has developed a clear identity that is maintained by the boundaries that exist between them. Once cities sprawl together, as they have in the San Fernando Valley, each city loses the unique character that is vital to a real sense of community.

With Newhall sitting like a loaded gun on the Ventura County line, SOAR is needed now more than ever to protect the Heritage Valley from the threat of massive sprawling development.

Join us!