Ventura County planning commission approves Phase 2 text amendments to noncoastal zoning ordinance

VENTURA COUNTY — The Ventura County Planning Commission on June 26 voted 4-0 to approve and forward to the Board of Supervisors a package of Phase 2 text amendments to the county—s Noncoastal Zoning Ordinance (case PL24-0023), a set of mostly clerical and minor regulatory changes affecting unincorporated areas of the county.

The commission—s action formally recommends the board adopt the amendments with five additional directions from the commissioners, including adjusting seasonal agricultural sales windows, deleting one section on outdoor kitchens, allowing limited anchoring for portable animal shade structures, raising the maximum height for driveway entrance features to 20 feet, and increasing allowable outdoor display area for small agricultural sales facilities to 1,000 square feet.

The amendments are the second phase of a three‑phase comprehensive update to the Noncoastal Zoning Ordinance (NCZO). Staff described Phase 2 as primarily housekeeping and minor regulatory changes to improve clarity, align local regulations with state law and county practice, and codify planning‑director interpretations. Planning staff said Phase 3 will include more substantive policy changes and could trigger environmental review.

Planning case planner Franca Rosengren opened the hearing with an overview of the package and the amendments— objectives. "Because of the robust nature of this project, my presentation will be approximately 30 minutes or so," Rosengren said. The staff presentation listed changes by ordinance article and highlighted the more substantive items such as an exemption process for County projects, revised definitions, new agricultural-related uses, and updated development standards for specific uses.

Key changes recommended by staff include: - County project exemption: Proposed language would exempt County projects and projects on County‑owned land (including Public Works capital improvement projects) from some NCZO regulations, shifting responsibility for project consistency reviews and environmental review to the responsible County agency. - Agricultural wind machines: The package would allow planning‑director determinations permitting agricultural wind‑generation machines (frost fans) to exceed the standard 15‑foot height limit for accessory agricultural structures up to 35 feet (36.5 feet if placed on a raised foundation), provided they are at least 20 feet from property lines; blades are not included in the measured height. - Driveway entrance features: Staff proposed standards for driveway entrance features (horizontal beams or archways) in open‑space and agricultural zones, including a minimum unobstructed clearance of 13 feet 6 inches, a proposed maximum of 17 feet, a minimum 15‑foot access width and a 20‑foot setback from the front/street side property line; the commission amended that recommendation and instructed staff to raise the maximum to 20 feet. - Outdoor kitchens and related dwelling standards: The draft relocates and clarifies development standards for outdoor kitchens and wet bars to the standards-for-dwellings section and clarifies the definition of "unenclosed/open." Staff said outdoor kitchens are intended to be accessory to dwellings and not accessory to a nonresidential structure (for example a barn), to avoid ad hoc conversions of agricultural buildings into residential uses. - Animal shade structures and hoop houses: The draft creates clearer, permit‑exempt standards for portable animal shade structures (detached, not anchored to the ground or to structures, max 12 feet above grade, max 1,000 sq ft roof area) and for hoop houses (removable, flexible covering, no permanent foundation, max 12 feet, no electrical/plumbing/mechanical installations), aligning planning standards with Ventura County Building and Safety practices. - Small agricultural sales facilities: Staff proposed reducing the indoor maximum for small agricultural sales facilities from 500 to 400 square feet (to align with building code produce‑stand exemptions), clarified combined indoor/outdoor display area rules, and proposed allowing sampling and sale of processed products without a conditional use permit if the property also has a permit for a locally grown food processing facility. - Water tanks for agricultural purposes: Tanks up to 5,000 gallons, supported directly on grade, height not to exceed 15 feet, and with a height-to-diameter ratio not exceeding 2:1 would be permit‑exempt from both Planning and Building divisions. - Entitlements and ministerial processing: The draft adds limited ministerial zoning clearance processes for minor modifications of previously approved discretionary permits (where footprint, use, coverage and parking requirements do not materially change) and broadens planning‑director discretion to defer projects to the Planning Commission earlier in the process. - Deletions and updates: Staff proposed deleting Article 12 (the Ojai Valley Clean Air Ordinance) as obsolete and removing a section on continuation of nonconforming mobile homes. The package also clarifies zoning clearance requirements prior to building permit submittal and proposes extending the reconstruction window for nonconforming structures destroyed in a declared disaster from 12 months to 5 years.

During discussion, commissioners pressed staff on several items. Commissioner Cushing asked why outdoor kitchens could not be attached to a barn; staff and Winston Wright, a project manager, said the rule is intended to prevent conversion of agricultural buildings to residential use without appropriate review and to reflect sanitation/occupancy requirements administered by other agencies. "Outdoor kitchens are specifically related to residential uses," Wright said, and staff noted cases where attached kitchen fixtures plus showers had effectively created additional dwelling units.

Several commissioners expressed concern that an outright prohibition could also block legitimate employer/employee amenities or farmworker needs. Director Dave Ward and staff said those uses can sometimes be permitted under other mechanisms (for example locally grown food processing facilities or discretionary permits) and offered to study narrower standards for Phase 3 to allow limited employee or commercial uses with appropriate cross‑agency safeguards.

Public input included one on‑line speaker, Hannah Loyan of SESP Consulting representing Lockwood Valley Ranch, who asked the commission to increase the driveway entrance maximum height to 20 feet to accommodate oversized recreational vehicles and agricultural trailers. "Raising the height limit to 20 feet would go a long way in supporting agricultural productivity, operational safety, and allow for design flexibility," Loyan told commissioners.

At the close of deliberations the commission agreed to five specific direction items for staff to carry forward in the final recommendation to the Board of Supervisors: (1) allow pumpkin and Christmas tree seasonal sales between September 1 and December 31; (2) delete the NCZO section on outdoor kitchens (section 8107) as drafted; (3) modify portable animal shade‑structure standards to explicitly allow limited safety anchoring; (4) raise the maximum driveway entrance feature height to 20 feet; and (5) allow up to 1,000 square feet of outdoor display area for small agricultural sales facilities (the 400 square feet building cap remains aligned to the Building Code). Staff said it would make any necessary cross‑code edits to ensure consistency.

The commission then voted to approve a motion to recommend the board adopt the Phase 2 amendments together with the five commission directions. Commissioner Cushing moved; a second was recorded; roll call votes were recorded as four yes votes (Commissioner Boydson, Commissioner Cushing, Commissioner Ayala and Vice Chair Sandlin); Chair Kesely was absent. The motion passed 4-0.

Staff reiterated that the package relies on categorical CEQA exemptions cited in the staff report (CEQA Guidelines §15061(b)(3) and §15303) and that Phase 3 will be a separate effort focusing on more substantive policy changes. Planning Director Dave Ward told commissioners the draft would go to the Board of Supervisors for final action, tentatively scheduled for September 2025.

The commission asked staff to return with redlined code language reflecting the five directions and any related code cross‑references, and indicated interest in exploring broader changes in Phase 3 to address outdoor kitchens for agricultural/commercial contexts, ag tourism display sizes, and other topics that require interagency coordination.

The Planning Commission—s approval sends case PL24-0023 and the commission—s recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for final consideration. The county—s full staff report, exhibits and errata memo were made part of the record; staff said two written comment letters had been received and would be included in the administrative record.

Looking ahead, Planning Director Ward told the commission that Phase 3 and other legislative items (residential high‑density zone regulations and updates to the county—s initial study/CEQA administrative manual) will come back to the commission later in 2025 for further hearings.