Vision and Solutions

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For more than 50 years Camarillo has been and remains a wonderful family-oriented city, blessed with numerous assets such as a year-round temperate climate, moderately priced housing, highly rated public schools, a major state university, a diverse population, minimal public safety issues, little traffic congestion, preserved open spaces, numerous sports, and public parks, an old-town shopping, and restaurant district, a Farmer's Market, a large premium outlet mall, proximity to sandy ocean beaches, a nearby major deep water port, access to a major freeway, nearby international airports and an economic base supported by a variety of industries and numerous small businesses with available areas zoned for future growth of manufacturing, high tech companies, and office space.

Historically the City has been well situated for substantial economic growth that should bring good companies with high-paying jobs to Camarillo. Unfortunately for years, the City has been operating without a clear vision for its future.  Many residents of Camarillo hold on to its past and its rural identity and are adverse to change. During the past 20 years, Camarillo has not aggressively leveraged its many assets and pursued manufacturing and the clean industries of the future such as high tech, biotech, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Some of the larger employers like Imation (3M) and Blue Cross have moved out of Camarillo taking their high-paying jobs to other cities and states. 

During the past 5 years, Camarillo has also experienced a steady annual decline in sales tax revenues derived from local retail sales. While the nation and most surrounding cities grew economically during the past decade, Camarillo lost major companies and good-paying jobs and the decline is projected to continue over the next ten years.

Despite its low unemployment rates, Camarillo's overall economy, like Ventura County's, is spiraling downward in decline. The Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University has determined that Ventura County has experienced continuous negative economic growth over the past ten years and is in a recession. As average wages drop and the cost of living increases, the middle-class shrinks, and residents begin to leave. A high cost of living coupled with anemic economic growth is not a recipe for prosperity. 

Camarillo is following the general economic trend found throughout most of the United States. Camarillo's manufacturing base continues to be in steep decline and it is being replaced mostly with service industry jobs and to a lesser extent information technology jobs. Over the past ten (10) years, jobs found within sectors of the manufacturing base declined by fourteen to twenty percent (14% - 20%) while service jobs grew by seven to fifteen percent (7% - 15%). This trend is extremely harmful to a local economy because manufacturing jobs pay much more than service jobs. 

Camarillo should (1) aggressively pursue a city-wide Economic Development strategy designed to attract companies in industries with the brightest future; (2) promote Workforce Development by partnering with the education and business sectors to develop intern and apprenticeship programs, career pathways and specialized education for children and young adults; (3) revitalize "Old-Town" and create a planned development for a mixed use commercial-residential improvement zone in the City's core area; (4) preserve its designated Open Space to prevent its loss to urban sprawl; (5) reduce street traffic congestion and increase city-wide public transportation; (6) establish Camarillo as a destination city for tourism and entertainment, rather than stagnate economically as a bedroom community; (7) increase city access to water resources and increase water storage; (8) upgrade senior health/exercise facilities, meal-nutrition programs and social programs and (9) reduce city regulation and provide a liaison to assist businesses and residents seeking to comply with city rules, licensing, permits and procedures.

The future of Camarillo is not yet written. We can hold on to the values and community assets we cherish and build a better Camarillo for our children based on family values, high quality education, economic development, good high paying jobs, open space and a balanced housing strategy. 

 The chief problem in acquiring a home is affordability, especially in a desirable area like Camarillo. With demand outstripping supply, home prices and rents have been on a ten-year upward trajectory resulting in longer commutes for working residents and young adults moving to other cities or out of state due to the high cost of living.

If governments and developers want to meet the demand for housing, jobs, and other expansion in the region, they have two choices: (A) Increase the allowable level of density of land already urbanized or (B) zone more rural land for urbanization. Developing rural land decreases the amount of farmland and open space, threatens the viability of the agricultural industry and could harm the local environment, and rob residents of places for outdoor recreation. On the other hand, refusing to develop rural land puts pressure on existing urban spaces and public and elected officials frequently reject increasing density within those existing urban areas.

Homeownership is the primary way for families in the U.S. to build wealth. Homeowners that have owned their home for at least seven years have historically seen an increase in their property's value. Homeowners with affordable mortgages, therefore, enjoy an increase in equity over time helping them achieve financial security and upward economic and social mobility. 

Home values are important to people who own homes and those who want to buy them. When prices rise, homeowners see their net worth balloon along with their home equity but renters see the dream of homeownership slip away. When prices drop, homeowners lose equity and can find it hard to sell their homes, while persons looking to buy benefit as more homes come into their price range.

Camarillo continues to wrestle with balancing (A) environmental concerns and our desire to preserve open space with (B) the need for affordable housing that is available for a range of incomes against (C) economic priorities to attract good industries with high paying jobs.

In order to resolve its growing housing crisis Camarillo should (1) develop a balanced housing strategy to increase the inventory of low, moderate, and high valued homes; (2) promote in-fill housing development within existing neighborhoods; (3) create a planned development mixed-use commercial-residential improvement zone in the City's core area; (4) create a city-wide home repair and low-interest loan program to assist seniors, veterans, disabled persons and other homeowners with low to moderate incomes to safely remain in their homes over the long-term so that it upgrades neighborhoods and preserves the quality of housing;  (5) preserve the City's designated Open Space to prevent its loss to urban sprawl; and (6) advocate for policies and grant funding at the local, state and federal levels that can be leveraged to create more affordable housing for struggling families.

It is a common but mistaken belief that SOAR protects this large area of open space from urban sprawl.  Unfortunately, Measure J actually provides that the City Council, without a vote of the people, may amend the SOAR ordinance to permit amendment of the General Plan in order to change the land use designation to accommodate lands to be designated for residential uses.  It specifically provides that solely by a vote of the City Council this large area of open space may be changed to create new low and very low-income housing. 

This amendment procedure is exactly what the people of Camarillo thought they had voted to guard against. During 2020 and 2021 the City Council has shown a pattern of amending the General Plan to accommodate new housing projects, e.g. 158 homes approved to be built on 20 acres of farmland located west of Springvale Drive (November 2020) and approximately 250 units of apartments to be built on vital high tech/manufacturing land north of U.S. 101 located at the easterly edge of the city (2021). In the Fall of 2021, it is expected the City Council will again vote on amending the General Plan to change six holes of the golf course located at Camarillo Springs into additional high-density housing. The current makeup of the City Council suggests that they are at most one vote short of achieving a majority that will forever change the city's cherished open space into additional urban sprawl.