Most Livable CommunitiesBuilding Today For A Better Future

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It is said if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. And for much of the last century, southern California’s

growth was scattershot with too little thought given to the big picture.

Even in our beautiful Ventura County, we live daily with results of this short-sighted approach: traffi c congestion; a disjointed regional transpor-tation system; a dearth of affordable homes for working families; and excessive wear and tear on our environment.

The Ventura County Civic Alliance and its Livable Communities Working Group believe we can do better and, in fact, already are building communities that enhance – instead of degrade – the quality of our environment and our quality of life.

Founded in 2001, the Alliance advocates for a more sustainable approach to development in Ventura County. It adopted a nationally respected set of principles. These include promoting a range of housing choices; walkable, close-knit neighborhoods; repurposing of historic buildings; preservation of open space, farmland and critical

environmental areas and a variety of transportation options.

Called the 10 Tenets of Livable Communities, these are not lofty, academic theories but sound practical strategies to serve as planning guidelines.

How do we know that? This booklet will show you projects that follow these tenets – already built or approved – in every city of Ventura County.

This publication resulted from our recent outreach to the 10 cities of Ventura County, as well as the county itself. The Livable Communities Working Group asked them to show us projects they believe exemplify one or more of these respected tenets. The response from planners in every city was enthusiastic and heartening, and we are pleased to share these local examples.

We in the Civic Alliance realize there remains much more that can be done to create an atmosphere where offi cials open the channels of communication across their city limits and within their cities to their own citizens. All of us together are better at charting our future than any one of us.

We remain committed in the months and years ahead to continue our efforts to foster dialog and build consensus in this region fi lled with so many resources and advantages. In the 10 Tenets of Livable Communities, we believe we found the road map to a better future for this beautiful place we all call home.

Marvin KingChairLivable Communities Working GroupVentura County Civic Alliance

PICTURE

Nancy Stehle,ChairVentura County Civic Alliance

A change for the better

10 TENETS OF A LIVABLE COMMUNITY

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Provide a mix of land uses.Mixed-use developments provide an interesting place to live, and they promote a sense of community. They also are places for people to shop, work and recreate in close proximity to their homes through some means other than the automobile.

Create housing opportunities and choices.It’s important to provide a variety of housing types for residents of all incomes, even if this means more density of housing in some areas. In a dense setting, the watchful eyes of the merchants, the neighbors and the pedestrian traffi c become the “eyes on the street,” providing a free security force.

Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place.With the rapid spread of the subdivisions, Americans abandoned cities for the lure of the suburbs and wide-open spaces. We witnessed an ironic dichotomy associated with this fl ight. They left to fi nd privacy, but found isolation; they left to get away from city traffi c, but found highway congestion.

Strengthen and direct development toward existing communities.Cities are having huge successes when they discover how to make development pay for itself. These cities enjoy a rare status as 24-hour cities, with cultural and entertainment value that draws residents and usually leads to increased market rates for their developments.

Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective.What public agencies and their planning staff can do best is publish documents that create certainty. In regions where developers are confi -dent that projects will proceed with little or no risk, they are more likely to pursue smart-growth approaches.

Take advantage of compact building design.One way to nurture sustainable development is to invest more in the infrastructure by creating a vibrant city center. Sprawl pushes fi re, ambulance and police services to their limits. That increases the costs of services and leads to the decay of downtown housing and schools.

Create walkable communities.The importance of human scale in building designs, as well as the elimi-nation of obstructions, the distance requirements to promote walking to and from activities and the importance of traffi c calming and street design — all of these contribute to walkable, close-knit neighborhoods.

Preserve open space, farmland and critical environmental areas.The preservation of open space, farmland natural beauty and critical environmental areas begins with compact development. Developments within established growth areas will eventually result in the preservation of open space and farmland that might otherwise be used for leapfrog development.

Provide a variety of transportation choices.Communities with successful transportation plans recognize the way out from under the current “automobile-dominated” transportation trend is through choices in modes of transportation that also include pedestrian, bicycle and public transit.

Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.The participatory effort itself is a circular process. Over time it will result in a strong “sense of community” that will allow the community to engage in future efforts at improving the quality of life.

For more information on these tenets, please visit:http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/offices/ocp/livable_communities.html

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While Fillmore’s city center may look

like small-town America, circa 1921, its appearance has been shaped by 21st Century thinking in urban planning which holds the best communities offer residents the option to walk to work, to shopping and to entertainment.

After the city was rocked by the Northridge Earthquake of 1994, offi cials accepted government funds to preserve historic structures and used those as models for new development. So much so, in fact, visitors may want to take the Fillmore Challenge of guessing which buildings are old and which are new.

The neoclassical design of the City Hall might suggest a structure built in the last century, but the building became an instant hit when it opened in 1996. The nearby Santa Barbara Bank Building, on the other hand, is a Ventura County historical landmark that heavily infl uenced the design of the City Hall.

Fillmore’s historic Rudkin Building is an original mixed-use retail-residential building that has fronted Central Park for many decades. The building has had six units on the second fl oor that have been one of the best-kept residential secrets in Fillmore over the years.

This successful pairing of retail and residences has been duplicated in one of the city’s newer additions – the Parkview Apartments.

Inspired by the architecture of City Hall and the Santa Barbara Bank building, they were completed in April 2007. This three-story building with 50 residences for low-income seniors, is designed so that every unit has a balcony overlooking the street or the Fillmore and Western Railway.

Although city planners are fi rm on maintaining the design of the area’s architecture, they are fl exible in allowing units built for affordability and to house groups often squeezed out by Ventura County’s high cost of housing.

With its deliberate mixing of the old and the new, Fillmore is rapidly becoming the Ventura County model for proper mixed-use planning and development.

Tenet 1: Provide a mix of land usesCase Study: Fillmore Where the old blends with the new

Photo courtesy of Joe Virnig, VenturaCountyVistas.com.

Buildings – old and new – that surround Fillmore’s Central Park refl ect a graceful architectural theme and allow housing to mix seamlessly with businesses.

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One of the largest master-planned communities

recently conceived in Ventura County, River-Park has bucked the trend toward sprawl. Once a barren industrial site, it now offers homes, shopping centers – large and small – a hotel-convention complex, elementary and secondary schools as well as parks and playfi elds.

With RiverPark, Oxnard has capitalized on land which previously offered little return to the community,

despite its desirable location at the intersection of Highway 101 and the Santa Clara River.

The project takes advantage of key site features by turning two large sand and gravel mines into bodies of water for the new community to enjoy. RiverPark not only makes use of recycled land, it also departs from run-of-the-mill housing by incorporating features absent in more conventional subdivisions: short blocks; narrower streets connected through a grid system which disperses traffi c throughout the neighborhood to diminish congestion; garages relegated to the rear of homes and accessed via nicely landscaped alleys; roundabouts at major intersections to keep traffi c fl owing while also slowing it down; small parks throughout the area to serve the community

better; diverse housing types giving residents choices from market-rate single-family detached homes to apartments to mixed-use and live-work units.

The plan incorporates a town center with mixed-use commercial, providing employment within the community to cut down on commuting traffi c.

All these features help make this neighborhood truly “pedestrian friendly” so residents can live near where they work and shop within walking distance.

RiverPark’s innovative develop-ment plan is a sign of change in Ventura County.

Tenet 2: Take advantage of compact building designCase Study: OxnardRiverPark walks the walk of sustainability

A mix of housing for many budgets is a feature of RiverPark.

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Citrus Walk, off Henderson Road along Highway 126, is a good place to see the future of how subdivisions will be built in Ventura going forward, says City Councilman Bill Fulton.

Developed by The Olson Co. on the old Hailes Ranch, it consists of 232 dwelling units on about 40 acres, ranging from 1,300-square-foot triplexes to 3,000-square-foot single-family homes.

Olson’s original proposal called for a mix of single-family and multifamily residential, which did not sit well with residents in the well-established subdivisions that neighbor the property. They wanted detached, single-family homes exclusively.

Through civic engagement, the neighbors and the developer moved closer to an agreement. Eventually, the city called for a mix of dwellings, along with

more open space – including a one-acre park that many of the homes overlook.

In a clever compromise, the city specifi ed larger one-story ranch-style homes on larger lots that line the perimeter of the project adjacent to existing neighborhoods.

The condominium units the developer proposed were, instead, changed to duplex and triplex units to establish a more single-family appearance and a more attractive street scene.

Ventura plans to grow by 8,000 housing units over the next two decades, which averages out to 400 units of new housing each year. Limitations on capacity of city staff will decide how many units can be processed each year. As a result, Ventura has set up smart-growth guidelines to let developers know ahead of time what city planners seek in an ideal development. These include walkable streets and the requirement that every unit have private outdoor space.

As Fulton puts it: “Mostly what I mean by smart growth is building neighborhoods that make sense for families to live in given both the financial and social demands we face today.”

Citrus Walk certainly scores one for smart growth.

Ventura’s “smart growth” development Citrus Walk features housing choices for people in all phases of their lives, from young couple to the family years to empty nesters.

Tenet 3: Create a range of housing opportunities and choicesCase Study: Ventura Back to the new drawing board

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Ventura Road stretches from north Oxnard

to the southern border of Port Hueneme. Most of its length, motorists traverse nondescript subdivisions interspersed by strip malls at major intersections.

The traveler is in for pleasant surprises as Ventura Road takes on a different character in an enclave where rows of eucalyptus trees cast warm shadows on

the pavement. Here, one encounters a short city block of inviting homes fronting Ventura Road. Although new, they are reminiscent of the traditional neighborhoods, with porches or stoops behind lush landscape that beckon visitors from the sidewalk.

The most remarkable thing about these houses in automobile-oriented Southern California: No garages face the street. A quick look around the back reveals they are tucked discreetly behind the houses along common alleys. Unlike alleys of yore, these are landscaped, rivaling even the frontage of homes in more conventional subdivisions.

Two short blocks away another development with similar character is made up of traditional homes with alley-loaded garages. Each dwelling comes with an accessory unit over the garage, providing the owner with a potential affordable rental unit, a separate studio or a granny fl at. These contribute to the sense of security along the alley by providing the proverbial “eye on the street.”

Olson Co. and John Laing Homes have developed new subdivisions in Port Hueneme with an inviting, neighborly feel.

Tenet 4: Create walkable, close-knit neighborhoodsCase Study: Port HuenemeBuilding in character and sustainability

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every bit the youngest

city in Ventura County, Moorpark dates back to 1887 when founder Robert W. Poindexter laid out the downtown and planted pepper trees on the main downtown thoroughfare, High Street.

The trees still shade High Street but the historic

town center has lost some of its luster over the years.

As Moorpark grew in the last three decades, the city took on the suburban pattern of single-family detached homes fronted by garages and ringed with streets interspersed with cul-de-sacs. Strip malls – large and small – line the state highway that runs through the town.

A string of vacant lots came to dominate High Street, although a few commercial establishments – such as the High Street Arts Center – have held on to anchor downtown. The Amtrak and Metrolink station helps to preserve downtown as a signifi cant town center.

To return High Street to its former glory, Moorkpark city offi cials have responded with a comprehensive plan. Decisions have been made to keep City Hall as part of old downtown, enhance the area through a Downtown Specific Plan and provide incentives to build there through the Redevelopment Agency, which already plans three housing developments for low-income residents on what were 12 single-family residential lots. Residents of these planned houses will be able to walk to downtown retail and services.

Among the success stories are the renovation of the High Street Arts Center and the completion of Ventura County Fire Station No. 42, a new building designed to look like a vintage fi rehouse.

Photo courtesy of the Ventura County Fire Department Ventura County Fire Department Station 42 in Moorpark is a new building designed to match the turn-of-the-century ambiance of High Street.

Tenet 5: Foster communities with a strong sense of placeCase Study: Moorpark Taking High Street to new heights

Pepper trees and historic buildings lend character to High Street.

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If doubters question whether voters care about sustainability, they need look no farther than Santa Paula. Known for just saying “no” to development after development over the decades, 83 percent of residents

gave a resounding “yes” to Limoneira’s 508-acre Teague-McKevett Ranch project in June 2008.

This project’s ballot-box victory may well have its roots in Limoneira’s corporate mission which defi nes sustainability as “a worldwide concept that is necessary for the longevity of our planet and the people who inhabit it….”

Established in Santa Paula in 1893, Limoneira is one of the largest agricultural concerns in the nation. Its leaders recognized the company cannot be successful if Santa Paula is not successful. For decades Santa Paula stood still as the rest of Ventura County grew and developed, and the city suffered the economic consequences of maintaining the status quo.

Limoneira entered into extensive community dialogue to defi ne the needs of the city as seen by residents. It then used some of the best planning talent in the world to create a design to meet those needs, including:

1,500 homes of varying types;•

The job-generating power that comes from the creation of 150,000 • square feet of light industrial space and 250,000 square feet of commercial space;

Signifi cant annual revenues to the city budget, thus lowering the average • citizen’s property tax;

Badly needed affordable housing for Limoneira’s workers as well as for • teachers, paramedics, fi refi ghters and police offi cers.

None of these comes at the expense of livability. The plan preserves 200 of those 508 acres for open space and trails.

This win-win dynamic will benefi t Santa Paula for generations to come.

The Haun Creek Green-way in Santa Paula demon-strates how good planning can create homes and also preserve open space.

Tenet 6: Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areasCase Study: Santa PaulaSustainability won over voters

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LLEYBy greenlighting The Marketplace, Simi Valley offi cials showed they are

ready to contemplate new solutions for directing their city’s growth.

Tucked away at the eastern end of Simi Valley, immediately north of the gorgeous Santa Susana Mountains, The Marketplace sits on 6.16 acres on the 2200 block of Tapo Street.

The Haven Homes project, offer-ing a variety of housing choices, bills itself as a development where residents can walk to everything they need: schools, shopping, health clubs, entertainment and banking.

The developer’s catchphrase underscores this message: “Because getting things done shouldn’t mean sitting in your car.”

Built in Italianate and Tuscan styles, the project offers a 36-unit senior

apartment building, 72 owner-occupied townhomes and three commercial buildings.

The townhomes are located at the center and western portions of the site. Two to three stories in height, they resemble traditional “brownstones” where each unit offers its own entry. A two-car, side-by-side garage can be accessed from the back of the units.

To create an urban aesthetic along the mixed-use project’s Eileen Street frontage, diagonal parking will be placed along the north side of the street. The porches of two of the townhomes will sit within a foot of the sidewalk easement, separated from the street with planters, sidewalk and the diagonal parking spaces. This design not only provides plenty of convenient parking to residents and visitors but also acts as a visual and safety buffer to pedestrians from street traffi c.

The streetscape design with angled parking is particularly appropriate for this development, reflecting its proximity to more intense commercial activities.

For the moment this project may rep-resent just a small step in the effort to concentrate development to counter sprawl, but the city of Simi Valley should be proud of this accomplishment. With continued pressure for growth, this small step may lead to bigger strides in the future.

The Marketplace in Simi Valley is a good trade-off. While offering higher density, it provides residents with services they can walk to.

Tenet 7: Direct development into existing communitiesCase Study: Simi Valley Signaling new solutions to fi ght traffi c

The Marketplace’s street design feels like a small-town commercial center.

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KSHalf way between Hollywood and Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks has

emerged as a regional transportation hub.

Once thought of as the epitome of a Southern California car-oriented community, the city moved into the future by building the Thousand Oaks Transportation Center on what had formerly been a gravel park-and-ride lot.

Reducing countless car trips each day, the center serves as a transfer hub for bus lines for residents traversing the city and the county as well as commuters to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Located between Highway 101 and open space, the center’s architecture is designed to have a low profi le while at the same time providing shelter and amenities to commuters.

Divided into public and staff sides, the public side features a waiting room, restrooms and vending machines. Commuters can ask assistance in planning their routes from a knowledgeable employee at the window during the normal service times, typically 6 in the morning to 7 at night. The Transit Center has gone green and is the fi rst LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) eligible municipal building constructed in Ventura County. It features drought tolerant plants, waterless urinals and strict energy conservation strategies.

The Transportation Center features a green, low-impact design.

Tenet 8: Provide a variety of transportation choicesCase Study: Thousand Oaks Making the right connection

Photo by Carol Robinson - Landmark DesignThe Thousand Oaks Transportation Center sits just off Highway 101.

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Blueprints tell people how to put things together. Plans exist for something

as simple as a Lego set to things as complex as cars, clocks and machines.

When it comes to our neighbor-hoods, however, we know we want them safe, beautiful and convenient. Generally, we have

only the vaguest clue about how they should look and are willing to relegate the task of fi guring that out to others, usually elected or appointed offi cials.

In the early 1990s, proactive architects and urban planners created a new way of planning known as Form-Based Codes. In these codes, physical aspects of the community should first be decided through a series of community outreach efforts. Then, professional designers create visions and concepts for communities with specifi c attributes.

Once adopted, these plans serve as foundations on which developers can fi t detailed plans that follow the directions.

Let’s see how this works in the city of Ojai. There, the town center still has the same pattern of development that existed in 1920. Ojai is compact with a lot of density downtown that gives way to rural boundaries.

When development decisions are made under the current system, planners must work with certain constraints on growth – the largest being traffi c restrictions originated by the county of Ventura that prohibit additional peak-hour trips through Casitas Springs that would result from new development.

While many residents may be happy with this status quo, the long-term fi nancial health of the community could be at stake. To the degree Ojai wants to remain a vital community with job/housing and urban/natural balances, it will need to consider strategic plans for sensible growth.

In an excellent move toward vitality, the city recently explored applying Form-Based Codes to its downtown area. Using a Form-Based Code to update its current Mixed Use Zone would make planning for the future much more predictable. This tool is based on the precept that the community will develop a vision of what it wants to see in physical terms and then create the rules that communicate how the vision can become reality.

With this approach, the community already has the outcome in mind, and the codes are designed to steer development toward this vision.

Ojai, with the iconic arcade, faces creative challenges as it plots its growth in the 21st Century.

Tenet 9: Make development decisions fair and predictableCase Study: Ojai Finding ‘form’ as the city matures

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OWhen the time came to revitalize 55 acres at the heart of their

city, Camarillo offi cials believed that before the developer built a single structure, the most important thing to build was consensus.

Planners developed an “Opportunities and Constraints Plan” early on in the process to uncover the potential for site and to act as a source to foster input from city offi cials and staff, a Citizen Advisory Committee, nearby property and business owners as well as any concerned citizens.

Throughout 2005, study sessions, community workshops and advisory committee meetings helped determine urban design and planning principles, land use, pedestrian and automobile circulation plans as well as streetscape improvements.

Through a series of more than 10 public outreach meetings and staff work-shops, a Vision Plan emerged that embodied the concept of a walkable mixed-use village where residents can run routine errands without starting up their cars.

The results: The Camarillo Commons Project, a village within this city of 66,000 residents, will offer stores and living spaces. Pedestrian friendly, it will feature wide sidewalks and landscaped public places. And a sports park where neighborhood youngsters can walk to their games.

Tenet 10: Encourage community and stakeholder participation in development decisionsCase Study: CamarilloGetting the best possible buy-in

Inclusion was the key to building Camarillo Commons, a walkable, mixed-use development in the heart of the city.

What they are saying about the Civic AllianceThe Civic Alliance is bringing people together to look at ways to ensure a high quality of life for future generations in Ventura County. Working today to bring a better future is an enormous challenge in the wake of population growth pressures, economic realities and the depletion of fi nite natural resources. We all share a personal stake in the outcome, and the challenge the Civic Alliance puts before us is all of ours to accept.

– Linda Parks, Ventura County supervisor

Mission Statement

The Ventura County Civic Alliance promotes a healthy and sustainable future for the Ventura County region. The Alliance is a coalition of civic leaders with a shared commitment to bringing the economic, environmental and social-equity interests of our region together to address priority community issues, increase civic engagement and build community leadership.

How we fulfi ll our mission

The Alliance plays a variety of community roles. These include acting as a neutral convener and facilitator of regional forums, a think tank for policy development, an objective, fact-based researcher and a leader, organizer or catalyst of strategic initiatives.

In every case we are a vigorous champion of regional stewardship. We believe in balancing the “3Es” of sustainable community (economic viability, environmental health and social equity) and of striving for the broadest possible representation and engagement in public-policy discourse.

Get involved

The Civic Alliance has working groups with varied missions:

Livable Communities Initiative works with • local governments and civic groups to increase understanding and support for integrating livable community principles into development decisions.

Compact for a Sustainable Ventura County • works with community leaders and local governments to launch a process for community dialog and consensus-building on a vision and blueprint for the county’s future.

Workforce Education Task Force seeks • to build support for effective workforce education programs, particularly targeting youth, immigrants, displaced workers and the underemployed.

To learn more about VCCA and its programs, go to www.CivicAlliance.org

VCCA publishes authoritative reports about our region.

VCCA assembles community stakeholders around issues of sustainability.

VCCA keeps residents informed on sustainability efforts in our region.

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”– Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

“One of our department’s goals is to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. There is nothing more important or valuable. Sustainable communities are dependent on safe neighborhoods.”– Pat Miller, Ventura chief of police (2005 - 2009)

“As a single woman with no children, a livable community looks different to me than that of couples and families. I believe in a community that has affordable housing, lots of free entertainment, parks for outside activities, scattered shopping centers and open space.”– Tamara Cortez, college student

“The face of agriculture is changing in Ventura County, as it always has. We have new leadership for new challenges: the recession, labor and water, especially water. To sustain the next 100 years what we will need most will be the support of the community.”– Phil McGrath, McGrath Family Farms

“Ventura County is recognized throughout California and, indeed, the nation for protection of environmental values by confi ning growth within city boundaries and maintaining open spaces and green belts between its cities. Several recent surveys have shown that citizens rate protection of the environment as extremely important for livability and quality of life.”– Ron Bottorff, Friends of the Santa Clara River

“In 2005, the Ventura City Council unanimously committed to making great places to live in our communities by insisting on the highest standards of quality in architecture, landscap-ing and urban design. By following that vision, we’ve become a national model for sustain-able development approaches.”– Rick Cole, Ventura city manager

“Farmers’ markets contribute to the com-munity by reconnecting the urban sector with its agricultural roots. They become a local food source and meeting place as well as a way for consumers to support California agriculture and sustainable farming practices.”– Karen Schott, Operations ManagerVentura County Certifi ed Farmers’ Market Association

Voices from the communityWhat ‘sustainable’ means to Ventura County residents

Join us in building a better future for our region.For a $50 minimum annual donation, you will receive:

All VCCA reports, publications and newsletters;•

Invitations to members-only convenings to be held a • minimum of twice a year – one in the East County and one in West County – featuring topics of interest and guest speakers;

Advance notice of all VCCA-sponsored or co-sponsored • activities/workshops and other events.

Visit us on the Web at www.CivicAlliance.org

E-mail us at civicalliance@vccf.org

Copyright Ventura County Community Foundation, 2009