page_title: Oxnard Plain
section_title: Postwar and modern development
hierarchical_section_title: Oxnard Plain / History / Postwar and modern development
context_page_description: The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorporated communities of Hollywood Beach, El Rio, Saticoy, Silver Strand Beach, and Somis lie within the over 200-square-mile alluvial plain. The population within the plain comprises a majority of the western half of the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura Metro Area and includes the largest city along the Central Coast of California. The 16.5-mile-long coastline is among the longest stretches of continuous, linear beaches in the state.
  The high quality soils, adequate water supply, favorable climate, long growing season, and level topography are characteristic of the Oxnard Plain where the top cash crops are strawberries, raspberries, nursery stock and celery. Ventura County is one of the principal agricultural counties in the state and it is a significant component of the economy with a total annual crop value in the county of over $1.8 billion in 2014.
context_section_description: Although agriculture has long been important to the economy on the Oxnard Plain, the booming growth in the 1960s of the cities located on the plain expanding by building housing, highways, and associated infrastructure over the rich agricultural land. Several methods were tried to encourage the building in compact, connected ways and reduce urban sprawl into the agricultural lands.  "Guidelines for orderly development" were adopted in 1969 by the County of Ventura to encourage urban development to be located within incorporated cities whenever or wherever practical. Eventually greenbelt agreements were established between cities to further define the areas of growth. A growth control ordinance was adopted by the city of Ventura in 1995. "Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources" (SOAR) was the name given to these plans that would limit housing and commercial development on farmland surrounding the cities. Jean Harris and other activists pressured the Oxnard city council to present a measure to the voters. Oxnard, Camarillo and Ventura County SOAR initiatives were overwhelmingly approved by voters in 1998. Under SOAR, the farmland and open space outside each city's urban growth boundary could not be rezoned without voter approval through 2020. The City of Ventura SOAR regulations expire at the end of 2030.
  Ballot initiatives in 2016 proposed to extend the growth control ordinance for another 30 years. As measures to renew SOAR were placed on the ballot county-wide in 2016, an alternative proposal was put forth by the agricultural interests.
  As of 2014, farmland values in California were at historic highs and the agricultural industry was optimistic and even confident about the future. Pesticide use is an issue in the interface between agriculture and residential areas along with public uses such as schools. 
  While the vast fields of fertile soil were appreciated for the agricultural bounty that could be produced, the sand dunes and wetlands along the coast line were considered useless except as places to dispose of solid and liquid waste. This at least dates back to 1898 when the beet sugar factory sent the wastewater discharge through a pipe to Ormond Beach. Various other areas near the coast were used for dumping trash and oil-waste, much of the time with local government encouragement and supervision. The Halaco Engineering Co., a metal recycling facility at the Ormond Beach wetlands, deposited process wastes and wastewater from the smelter from 1965 until 2004 on what was allegedly a former open dump operated by the City of Oxnard until 1962.  The waste pile contains an estimated 112,900 cubic yards (86,300 m³) and the facility has been designated a Superfund site. Other large, polluting industries were cited at Ormond Beach wetlands before environmental concerns highlighted the importance of restoring the area to serve as a dynamic habitat for a wide array of native plants and animals.
  Over the years, many communities have attempted to control the Santa Clara River by establishing dumps along the banks to create levees that would keep the river from flooding adjacent lands during occasional years with heavy winter rains. Three dump sites about 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream from the mouth of the river came under the control of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District by 1988. They continued to use the sites until they were closed in 1996.
  Municipal wastewater treatment facilities, industrial dischargers, and power generating stations are point source dischargers along the coast of the Oxnard plain. Water quality at the numerous beaches has been very good with a few exceptions. Two power generating stations were built in the 1960s to take advantage of the ocean for cooling. The Oxnard City council tried to prevent a third plant from being built in 2012. After years of legal tussles, the 45 megawatts (60,000 hp) McGrath Peaker Plant was built by Edison next to the existing power plant at Mandalay.
caption: Oxnard Plain, 1975
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