Ventura County coastal town divided on name: ‘Port’ or ‘Beach’? Voters will now decide
Ventura County voters on Tuesday will consider a proposition that would impose a two-year moratorium on any further planned development on a strip of land in the surf town of Pacific Beachers.
Voters will also consider whether to designate the area known as Pacific Beach as a historic coastal corridor by designating the proposed moratorium as a bond measure.
They also will consider whether to rezone the area for commercial and industrial use.
The vote comes as more than 4.5 million people visit the beach each year in summer, drawing business from locals and tourists. The county is looking to expand the area into residential areas.
But the vote comes a year after the County Board voted to rename the beach and extend commercial development permit approvals for an additional year, which could have allowed for the construction of hotels and condominiums on the site.
The ballot measure, which will appear on a single question page on the ballot, would make it effective the month the moratorium takes effect.
“It’s just a great, great move for us,” said Richard Jevans, president of the Pacific Beach Business Association.
But the initiative’s backers say it would protect the natural environment of the land long enough to find a permanent solution to the conflict surrounding the site.
“It would be a great gift to us that would enable us to look at other sites that we could pursue,” said Jevans, whose son Todd lives in San Luis Obispo. “We’re committed to protecting the sand dunes but we feel strongly that the most important thing to us is to protect the environment, so this really gives us a chance.”
The proposal, which appears on the ballot as Measure KK, would create a two-year regulatory freeze on any new development. County officials would continue to manage the land for a two-year period.
The measure also would designate the land around the ocean beach as a tourist corridor and make the area suitable for commercial development with height and setback restrictions.
But the ballot measure’s supporters say the moratorium
