Ventura County supervisors adopt amendments to high‑density housing standards amid water, wildfire and traffic concerns

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to adopt staff recommendations to amend development standards and affordable‑housing compliance options for High‑Density Residential (RHD) sites that were identified in the countyhousing element, staff said.

County planner Jean Hollis, who led the presentation, told the board the project is associated with case PL-24-001 and that state law requires local housing elements be updated every eight years. Hollis said the RHD designation was adopted in 2011 and set minimum densities at about 20 to 25 units per acre; at that time the county identified several parcels in Piru, El Ro and Santa Susana and added roughly 150 units to the public inventory. "La ley estatal requiere que cada 8 años se actualice el plan de vivienda," Hollis said during her presentation.

The ordinance amendments keep the existing RHD density and do not rezone properties, Hollis said, but would add clarified development standards, four compliance options for the county's affordable‑housing agreement requirement and procedures intended to speed and standardize multifamily review. She said the proposed amendments would also require that fees collected under the ordinance be deposited in an affordable housing trust account.

Hollis described the four options the…