❗ BUILT FAR FROM EVERYTHING — EXPOSED TO EVERYTHING
Why is farmworker housing being placed far from jobs, far from services, and directly in a high‑risk location?
🚜 DISCONNECTED FROM FARM EMPLOYMENT
Ventura Ranch is located well north of the County’s primary agricultural areas.
That means:
- longer daily commutes to work
- higher transportation costs
- more time away from family
Housing that is meant to reduce hardship should not require workers to travel farther just to reach their jobs.
🏫 FAR FROM DAILY LIFE NECESSITIES
Farmworker housing is family housing.
Families need:
- schools
- childcare
- healthcare
- groceries
- basic community services
This location is disconnected from all of them.
👉 Every basic need requires a drive.
⚠️ LOCATION + RISK = A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM
This isn’t just an issue of inconvenience.
It becomes a serious safety problem when combined with the risks already present at this site:
- 🔥 Located in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone
- 🚧 Limited access routes
- 🌧️ Access roads that are known to flood
- ☣️ Documented pesticide exposure surrounding the area
- 🚑 Distance from emergency services
🚨 WHAT THIS MEANS FOR DAILY LIFE
Because of the location, families will face constant exposure to risk:
- more time on dangerous roads
- greater evacuation risk during wildfire emergencies
- delayed emergency response times
- unavoidable exposure to environmental hazards
Everything — work, school, food, medical care — requires travel.
That means risk is built into daily life.
🔴 THIS DOES NOT REDUCE HARDSHIP
A project that forces farmworker families to drive farther for every basic need:
👉 does not reduce hardship
A project that places families in a high‑risk hazard zone:
👉 does not protect them
✅ FINAL POINT
Housing meant to support farmworkers should be:
- located near jobs
- connected to community
- safe for families
This project does the opposite
WHY “DEEMED COMPLETE” DOES NOT OVERRIDE health and safety
The public deserves to know that safety was not the deciding factor in approving the Ventura Ranch project. Despite significant unresolved concerns, the Planning Commission approved a proposal that places both future residents and the surrounding community at risk. We believe those risks cannot be ignored — and we will continue to challenge this decision.
🔥 WHY “DEEMED COMPLETE” DOES NOT OVERRIDE FIRE SAFETY LAW
Ventura Ranch Partners claim this project should be allowed because the application was “deemed complete” before the site was designated a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.
They argue the project is “grandfathered.”
That is not how the law works.
🧠 What HAA actually says (in simple terms)
The Housing Accountability Act (HAA):
- Limits the County’s ability to deny housing projects
- BUT only if the project:
- complies with objective standards, AND
- does not create a specific, adverse health or safety impact [hcd.ca.gov]
👉 If there IS a real safety impact, the County can still deny it
👉 But they must make clear findings supported by evidence
❗ “DEEMED COMPLETE” DOES NOT GIVE THE RIGHT TO BUILD
It only requires the County to continue processing the application
It does not create a vested right to build
Vested rights only arise after:
valid building permits are issued
and construction has begun
Neither of those happened here.
🚨 FIRE SAFETY LAWS STILL APPLY
Wildfire regulations are not ordinary zoning rules.
They are life‑safety protections, and the County has the authority—and responsibility—to apply updated safety standards to pending projects.
Fire risk does not depend on filing dates
Evacuation danger does not disappear because paperwork was submitted earlier
⚖️ COUNTY LAW IS CLEAR
Ventura County’s Agricultural Worker Housing Ordinance states:
👉 A farmworker housing complex is prohibited in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone
There is no exception for “deemed complete” applications
There is no grandfather clause
If the County intended an exception, it would have written one.
It did not.
🚫 THIS PROJECT IGNORES THAT PROHIBITION
The proposal attempts to place a large, permanent residential complex for families in a location the County has already identified as high‑risk for wildfire.
That directly conflicts with the purpose of the ordinance.
🔥 SAFETY RULES PROTECT PEOPLE — NOT PROJECTS
Farmworker housing is supposed to reduce vulnerability, not increase it.
Calling this project “grandfathered” does not change:
wildfire behavior
evacuation limitations
real‑world danger
✅ FINAL POINT
When the law clearly prohibits farmworker housing in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones,
that prohibition must be honored