VENTURA COUNTY (California) STAR

July 24, 2009

Commission OKs farmworker housing in Piru

By Tony Biasotti

The Ventura County Planning Commission on Thursday approved a farmworker housing complex in Piru that will replace a farm labor camp abandoned since 2003.

The original camp dates to the 1950s and was owned by the Fillmore-Piru Citrus Association as a site for its migrant workers, said Nicole Norori, project manager for the new developer, Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. Cabrillo’s project will be reserved for families headed by farmworkers who are U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents.

The 8-acre development will have 66 apartments, ranging from two to four bedrooms, along with a soccer field, basketball court and community center. The fields and community center will be open to the general public.

Rent will be about $1,000 a month for the biggest apartments, Norori said. Applicants will be chosen by lottery. To qualify, a family must make less than 40 percent of the county’s median income, or about $35,000 a year for a family of four, and the head of the household must be employed in agriculture.

When Cabrillo first bought the property, Norori said, it planned to renovate the existing buildings and reopen them as dwellings for single farmworkers.

“That just didn’t work,” she said. “The single farmworkers tend to be migrants, and they don’t need year-round housing. The need is much more for families.”

In unanimously approving the project, planning commissioners praised the nonprofit Cabrillo, the county’s largest developer of affordable housing, and reiterated the need for more farmworker housing. Some farmers also attended the hearing and spoke favorably of the project.

Janet Bergamo, president of the Piru Neighborhood Council, said her group recognizes the need for farmworker housing but does have some concerns about the project. The biggest worry is the concentration of such dwellings in Piru, which already has about 100 units dedicated to farmworker housing.

“We welcome farmworkers, but we don’t want to warehouse them here,” she said after the hearing. “It’s my hope that the people who live here won’t be commuting too far, because it’s just such a hardship for them.”