Southern California's Laboratory For Smart Growth

County Supervisor Kathy Long elaborates on what's happening in Ventura:

"It's not a secret to anyone: the market, the cost of property, and the cost of housing have skyrocketed. We feel those pressures. Our internal growth has been somewhere around 3 or 4 percent, which is manageable, but we know that additional pressures are coming to our county because of built-up, built-out areas surrounding us and the frustration of folks who live in those communities who might want to get away from the intense density and development."

"We are struggling with the need for adequate housing, both for low-income residents and farm workers, and even for our general workforce—firefighters, nurses, and medical technicians. I think we have moved in our community dialogue to where the general constituency knows we can’t continue with the old blueprint of large-lot, single-family homes and still accomplish the balance of farmland and open space that they have mandated by their vote. We have to look at higher densities and go up."