Saticoy & Wells Community Plan & Development ... - City Of Ventura

Saticoy & Wells Community Plan and Code EIRSection 4.9 Land Use and PlanningGuidelines for Orderly Development. LAFCO encourages proposals that involve urbandevelopment or that result in urban development to include annexation to a city whereverpossible. As discussed in Section 4.2 Agricultural Resources, the Project follows the vision of the2005 General Plan by designating 160 acres within the Project Area that are currently inagricultural use for non-agriculture use. Development of such areas could be found consistentwith the Guidelines for Orderly Development, as those areas are surrounded by urban uses. Inaddition, no development would occur until such time as the property in question is annexedinto the City. Given that future boundary adjustments would only be made at such time as theyare deemed consistent with the Guidelines for Orderly Development, the Project could be foundto be consistent with the Guidelines.Greenbelts. LAFCO will not approve a proposal for a city that is in conflict with anyGreenbelt Agreement unless exceptional circumstances are shown to exist. The Project Areadoes not include any lands that are subject to existing Greenbelt Agreements. Therefore, theProject could be found to be consistent with LAFCO’s criteria.Agricultural and Open Space Preservation. LAFCO will approve a proposal for achange of organization that is likely to result in the conversion of Prime agricultural land oropen space land only if it finds that the proposal will lead to planned, orderly, and efficientdevelopment. For a development to be deemed planned, orderly, and efficient, all of thefollowing criteria must be met: (1) the territory involved is contiguous with lands developedwith an urban use or that have received approvals for urban development; (2) the territory islikely to be developed within 5 years and has been pre-zoned for non-agricultural use; (3)insufficient non-Prime agricultural land or vacant land exists within the existing boundaries ofthe agency that is planned and developable for the same general type of use; (4) the territory isnot subject to voter approval for the extension of services or changing of land use designations;and (5) the proposal will have no significant adverse effects on the integrity of other Primeagricultural or open space lands.As discussed in Section 4.2, Agricultural Resources, the Project would facilitate the conversion ofapproximately 160-acres of Prime agricultural lands. These areas include:• UC Hansen Trust, 36 acres• Parklands Site, 67 acres• Citrus Place, 23 acres• Broome Site, 29 acres• Aldea Hermosa, 7 acresAll of the areas that could potentially be converted are contiguous with existing urban uses and,in many instances, are surrounded by urban uses (see Figure 2-5 in Section 2.0, ProjectDescription). Any of the agricultural lands that could be converted under the Project could befound to be consistent with LAFCO’s agricultural and open space preservation policies, thoughLAFCO’s determination would need to be at the time of individual proposals based uponcurrent (at that time) circumstances and the nature of the proposals.School Capacity. LAFCO will not favor a change of organization where any affectedschool district certifies that there is not sufficient existing school capacity to serve the territory4.9-7City of Ventura