Residential Growth May Break City Limits

The City Council tonight will consider an allowance for residential development to bring about 2,289 new residents into the city--roughly 170% of its annual allotment.

But Planning and Community Development Director Tony Boden played down any negative effect the increase could have on the city, saying the move is within population-expansion boundaries due to years of growth well below city-regulated limits.

“It’s not out of line,” Boden said. “In the last 12 years, 10 of those were under the yearly population allocation.”

That limit is the product of an 18-year-old ordinance aimed at controlling population growth in the city.

Seeing a potential for uninhibited expansion in Camarillo, the City Council adopted population guidelines in 1980. The city each year is allowed to approve homes for 1,350 new residents. When 80% of that number is reached, the City Council must begin voting on every residential development.

The ordinance was designed to require the city to pace itself in approving development, and Boden says it has done just that.

This year marks the third time since 1987 that Camarillo will look to approve expansion beyond its yearly allocation. The city hit 107% of its limit in 1996 and 124% in 1988.

And although it would appear Camarillo residents may have to brace for an onslaught of new neighbors, Boden said the city is not only within, but below, its total population allocation. Increases during five of the last 12 years were less than 50% of the annual allowance.

The council’s approval of the allocation tonight would allow permits for more than 10 residential projects, with an estimated population increase of 939 people. The council will meet at 5 p.m. at City Hall at 601 Carmen Drive.