| Ventura County Civic Alliance
Livable Communities Newsletter |
|
| 2010 1st Quarter, Number 13
|
February 2010 |
|
|
|
Welcome to the First Livable Communities Newsletter of
2010!!
This edition of our
newsletter explores different aspects of one of the most significant of
all human endeavors: Planning.
We start with the
long range work of the City of Ventura to develop a downtown that can
be reunited with its beach over the next 20 years without allowing
constraints to be the driver of the process.
Next we move the
planning horizon out to Ventura County and the year 2035 to report on
some of the work being done by the Compact For a Sustainable Ventura
County and local water agencies to ensure that a 2035 Ventura County,
with its estimated additional 250,000 people and 120,000 new jobs, has
enough water to support sustainability.
In our third report
we introduce the first of what we envision to be a series of guest
articles by individuals noted for their work in support of a
sustainable Ventura County. With an open invitation to communicate
what he thought was most important relative Ventura County
sustainability, our first guest writer, Nick Deitch from Mainstreet
Architects, chose to discuss regional planning and how it is essential
to prevent the sprawl of many of our Southern California regions.
Finally we look at
University Glen, an extremely well planned development
providing attainable housing in a mixed use community serving the
growing California State University at Channel Islands campus next
door. This established project was picked because it so well
captures the many aspects of the tenets of livable communities that we
have been discussing for years.
Let us know what you
think about this quarter's coverage and what you would like to see
discussed in future editions.
Stacy Roscoe and Dao Doan
 
|
|
|
How
Big and How Long Term Should a City Master Plan Be?......Ask the City
of Ventura about Ventura Vision.
In his blog, Ventura City Manager Rick Cole envisions Ventura
this way: "Imagine Ventura in twenty years. Locals and
visitors enjoy a beautifully enhanced promenade and the 101 Freeway is
decked over, connecting our historic downtown to the ocean air and
island views. Ventura celebrates the pride and prosperity of long-term
investments in a more beautiful and sustainable waterfront."
Ventura Vision is the product of work commissioned by the
City of Ventura in the fall of 2009 with graduate architecture and
urban planning students from the University of Notre Dame's Urban
Design Studio. Initial discussions with City officials and a weeklong
public charrette took place in September followed by work on campus
that included a November visit by public officials to provide
perspective to the evolving recommendations. A
final public review and presentation at Ventura City Hall concluded the
work on December 17. The following are the key
points recommended in this final public review:
|
Compact for a
Sustainable Ventura County and Water!
In our November newsletter we
reported the initial results of the Map-the-Future workshops that were
conducted in September by the Compact for a Sustainable
Ventura County as a means of obtaining public input to help shape
the County's future development through 2035. An estimated 200,000 more people requiring an additional
120,000 new jobs will be residents of Ventura County by 2035. The Association of Water Agencies (AWA)
/ Ventura County Civic Alliance (VCCA) Breakfast Meeting held on
January 21, 2010 invited Darren Kettle, representing
both the Ventura County Transportation Commission and the Ventura
County Organization of Governments; Ted Knowlton of
the Planning Center; and Don Kendall from Calleguas
Municipal Water District to come together to discuss the composite
results of the Compact workshops and their implications
for water supply. Although we are still in the
conceptual phase of this work, the discussion pointed out the need to
better utilize what we already have available, whether it be our
limited land available for development or our locally managed water
supply. Accomplishing this is not simple as it
may sound. Read further to see what might be
possible.
See How Water Fits Into Newly
Developing Scenarios for Handling New Growth in Ventura County
|
We're not Southern California... are we?
I
have noticed that Ventura County citizens will often go to great
lengths to specify that we are not from Los Angeles, or even Southern
California. We like to say that we are from the Central Coast, or "just
south of Santa Barbara". And I think most of us who call Ventura County
"home" would agree that there are significant differences between
Ventura County and our southerly neighbors, the counties of Los Angeles
and Orange - differences that we cherish and seek to preserve. Over the
past century those other counties grew at explosive rates. The many
individual cities that once dotted the agricultural lands of those
regions eventually merged into a seemingly borderless landscape of
house upon house, interrupted only by the numerous stores, parking lots
and assorted industries that replaced nearly all of the once abundant
and productive farmland.
|
|
 University Glen at CSUCI - One of
the Best Kept Secrets in Ventura County
In an
economy where news about increased car sales is touted as an
obvious success story expected to result in an "uptick" for the stock
market and a source of general rejoicing, it is hard to make a case for
how the automotive culture has subverted many of our historical urban
activities since the 1920's. The automobile now
dictates how wide our streets will be, how our houses will be designed
to protect these beloved objects, and how many acres away from the
street our stores and restaurants must be in order to accommodate
parking for such simple tasks as buying a quart of milk.
Yet amidst
this dense car-oriented culture, something out of the ordinary has
cropped up among the hills surrounding the California State University
at Channel Island campus. A small but not
insignificant project was built there over this last decade. At first it just seemed too small to have any real
impact one way or another. However, now that
several more phases have been completed (with a portion remaining
undeveloped due to the downturn in the economy), a different and fuller
picture has emerged.
|
 The Southern California Gas Company
Supports the Civic Alliance
The Ventura County Civic
Alliance welcomes Southern California Gas Company as our latest
Visionary Sponsor. We appreciate their support for our Compact Phase
II project which combines the efforts of VCOG, VCTC, VCAPCD, SCAG and
the Civic Alliance to look at long-term sustainability issues in the region. Thank you!
|
|
|
|
|
