Speech to Planning Commission - April 19, 2006  

The City of Fillmore and the Fillmore Chamber of Commerce are proud of the designation of

However, I would say Fillmore “was” the “Last Best Small Town in Southern California. The current development going on and the future development proposed will change Fillmore forever from a small town to a congested, polluted, noisy bedroom community.

The mitigations suggested in this EIR do not appear to be sufficient to keep the impacts from adversely affecting the citizens of Fillmore.  

Several citizens and I are requesting that the city amend and revise the EIR or choose one of the alternative plans included in the EIR so that our quality of life in Fillmore is not degraded by this development. Listed below are some of the significant impacts that are unacceptable.  

Agriculture

Fillmore is an area that values agriculture and it is the foundation of this city. This plan will remove over 500 acres of agriculture.

Growth

Underlying all these issues is the most basic issue of growth. Fillmore citizens want slow, controlled growth. From 1988 to 2004, approximately 595 new residential units were added to Fillmore. For some reason the growth target keeps changing. SCAG has projected Fillmore population in 2025 at 18,138. The Fillmore General Plan had projected population at 18,730 and Vision 2020 targeted “about” 20,000. Now the amended General Plan is at 24,985 and the North Fillmore Specific Plan is 23,896 at buildout.

Traffic

The amount of traffic and in particular large diesel trucks has increased exponentially. Traffic studies were done to prepare the North Fillmore Specific Plan. The traffic impacts are projected to deteriorate driving conditions in Fillmore at highway 126/23 intersection from a current “C” level of service to a proposed “F” level of service at buildout. The only mitigation offered for this area is adding a lane to highway 126. This is unacceptable traffic for a non-freeway road that goes through the heart of a small town.

Air Pollution

The air pollution generated by this development will exceed Ventura County APCD thresholds. The proposed $500,000+ mitigation fee may provide a little more than one years worth of Vista bus service.

Police

This plan does not add any police officers or increase public services. It does not seem possible to increase our population to this extent without incurring more crime or need for public services.

Schools

This plan does not provide additional schools. This will put Fillmore’s middle school at 245% of capacity utilization.

Parks

National standards indicate Fillmore’s park acreage should be between 76 and 122 acres. There are currently around 18 acres and the plan calls for an additional 14 acres. Fillmore is deficient in park space.

Noise

Residences along A Street and B Street will have significant noise impacts. The mitigation suggested is to require air conditioning and keep doors and windows closed. This is not a practical mitigation as it is a waste of energy resources and is not consistent with sustainable best practices. We live in a beautiful climate and have an outdoor lifestyle, not a closed in lifestyle.

Jobs

Fillmore is already the most “house rich” city in Ventura County. This means there are not enough jobs. Fillmore has a working class population. The additional homes will result in an estimated 3,600 more people. Many families have two people working. Most of those people will be driving to another city or county to go to work. This will create more traffic and more pollution.

This speech continues in letter form as the time limits imposed at the Public Hearings are not sufficient for the rest of the material

Several years ago I was transferred from Fillmore to Denver, Colorado by the company that I worked for. When my husband and I started discussing retirement a few years ago, I told him “we must go back to Fillmore. That’s the most beautiful place in the world.” I love the mountains and the river, we own a home here and I have close friends here. There were so many reasons I wanted to return to Fillmore. But, when I saw the number of homes that Heritage Valley Parks would bring to Fillmore, which was an unprecedented amount of growth, I decided to really become part of the community and get involved in the North Fillmore Specific Plan. 

At first, when I saw the number of homes being considered for North Fillmore, I was opposed for most of the reasons that the EIR specified as “Significant Impacts”.

The aesthetics, loss of agriculture, school issues, police issues, traffic, noise, park deficiencies and public service deficiencies, etc. These were all significant impacts that concerned me, my friends and my neighbors. I had never read an EIR or General Plan until recently. Like many people I just assumed that city management and those making these decisions loved Fillmore as much as I did and I also believed that the Vision 2020 document was guiding development. After reading the draft EIR and the proposed mitigations in it, I am disappointed that all of the intent and hard work of Vision 2020 have not been taken seriously

As I got into the research required for the EIR, it became evident that the process is flawed. The significant impacts could be easily dismissed and “bought off” with “mitigation fees”. Or, they could be mitigated by creative language such as…one of my favorites was the mitigation suggested for noise levels - quote; “air conditioning would be required so doors and windows could be kept closed and the noise would be mitigated”. Or that air pollution would be reduced by paying impact fees to the county. Do you really believe that air pollution will be reduced by paying the county $500,000? That will only provide approximately one and a half years of Vista bus service. How does that reduce air pollution in Fillmore when most of these new residents will be driving out of town to work?

Out of all of these significant impacts, after researching the data and making my own observations, I have concluded that there is an impact that is even beyond “significant”. That is air pollution. The data and recent studies have convinced me that it is now a matter of health concern for the citizens of Fillmore, particularly those in my neighborhood on Surrey Way, which is near the intersection of Highway 126 and Highway 23.

The EIR states on that…”short and long-term exposure to PM or particulate matter has been associated with increased mortality and cardiopulmonary disease…”

Ventura County is a non-attainment area for ozone PM. And, it has been determined that Carbon Monoxide can be a problem at heavily congested intersections such as 126 and 23.

At the Piru monitoring station ozone has exceeded state standards many times. The intersection of 126 and 23 would have ozone and PM levels much higher than the Piru monitoring station which only monitors 126 and not 23.  

The EIR concludes that the SunCal development alone will exceed AQMD thresholds for air pollution. However, they have decided that the intersection of 126 and 23 does not need to be monitored because the level of service is not congested enough. I strongly disagree with the level of service volumes since the traffic studies were done two years ago and may not reflect the incremental increase in traffic on highway 126 or the increased diesel trucks rock from Grimes Canyon expansion that has not been approved yet.

Also, according to the Clean Air Task Force (http://www.catf.us/projects/diesel/dieselhealth/county.php?c=06111&site=0), Ventura County residents have a risk that …”is 372 times greater than EPA's acceptable cancer level of 1 in a million.”

So, in conclusion I want to state that most of the mitigations suggested in the North Fillmore EIR will not reduce significant impacts as stated and in particular the air quality impacts will be devastating to Fillmore, particularly those in my neighborhood.

I respectfully request answers to the following questions regarding the North Fillmore Specific Plan

1. Can the North Fillmore Specific Plan hearings be delayed until the Grimes Canyon expansion EIR can be reviewed when it is released in June?
2. Can an air pollution monitoring station be installed at 126 and 23 intersection or relocated from Piru to Fillmore to more realistically assess air quality?
3. Can we include RR(rural ranch) zoning in the North Fillmore Specific Plan to bring more diversity to the area
4. Can we reduce density of plan?
5. Can a middle school be included in the plan?
6. Can we include more recreational and park space in plan?

7. How much is this going to cost existing residents?

8. How much is this going to cost future residents?

9. Will special assessment districts be too expensive for Fillmore median wage?