Ventura LAFCO Persists with “Analysis Paralysis”

The Ventura Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) was true to form with a 4-3 split vote on February 15th, continuing the delay for the City of Ventura’s Northbank project. Developer Vince Daly provided a historical perspective from 2004 when the property was identified as being in the City Sphere of Influence, not subject to SOAR…

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Economic Vitality Strategies Considered by County CEOs Office

Ventura County CoLAB was invited to participate in the County of Ventura’s Economic Vitality Summit, allowing input into an Economic Strategic Plan to be prepared by the CEO’s Office in 2017. The purpose of the Summit was to evaluate the impact of the County government’s operations on the local economy as well as improve the…

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Despite Drought Relief, Water Infrastructure Challenges Remain

The recent heavy rains have relieved drought conditions across the State, but they have also highlighted how much work needs to be done to update California’s aging water infrastructure, according to Eric Bergh, Manager of Resources for Calleguas Municipal Water District. Bergh gave a presentation on the State’s water situation to a packed room at…

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CoLAB Push to Improve Surveyor’s Office Gets Results

The Ventura County Surveyor’s Office has made improvements in speeding up approval of important survey map documents, leading to a faster experience for businesses, surveyors and landowners.  The improvement efforts came as the result of a regular meeting between key CoLAB board members and the County CEO.  In our most recent meeting, Public Works Director Jeff Pratt…

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When is Enough, Enough?: Wildlife Corridor Proposal Would Add More Regulations on Agriculture

At a packed Board meeting on January 24th filled with CoLAB members and other representatives from the agricultural and business community, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors gave preliminary backing to an effort to adopt mapped Wildlife Movement Corridors across 147,000 acres of private County lands. This effort has the potential to enact more wide-ranging…

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County Land Conservation Act Questionnaires Due on April 1st

The Ventura County Assessor mailed out their Annual Agricultural Preserve Questionnaires to current Land Conservation Act (LCA) contract holders in December, with a filing deadline of April 1, 2017. To encourage continuing County support for this essential property tax reduction program benefitting agricultural and open space communities, VC CoLAB is urging all contract holders to…

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County Supervisor Targets OBGMA

Seeking to extend County authority over water, Supervisor Steve Bennett is targeting the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OBGMA), with authority that could be extended to other groundwater basins in the future. In December, Mr. Bennett urged the Board of Supervisors to pass an extension to the current water well moratorium if Groundwater Sustainability Agencies…

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Parting Thoughts From Matt Guthrie

Prior to joining VC CoLAB, my exposure to the organization was limited mostly to occasional policy committee meetings at various advocacy organizations. I would attend in my role as legislative staff on behalf of an elected official or as a government affairs/public policy representative. Anyone who has attended such meetings knows that some are more…

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