VCHP President's Message

Since our victory over Measure A in November 2002, members of VCHP have helped to launch the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (VHC), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of the Ventura hillsides. The Conservancy's sole mission is to acquire the hillsides for preservation and future enjoyment by the citizens of Ventura.

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Update From The President of VCHP April 18 , 2005 Since our victory over Measure A in November 2002, members of VCHP have helped to launch the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (VHC), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of the Ventura hillsides. The Conservancy's sole mission is to acquire the hillsides for preservation and future enjoyment by the citizens of Ventura. Preservation was originally part of the VCHP mission. To clarify what each organization will be doing in the future, we revised and refined the VCHP mission statement to concentrate our energies on the political side of the preservation issue. We will continue to work on hillside preservation, but our revised mission is to influence policy decisions through participating in the political process. We have prepared a fact sheet entitled, "What are the Differences Between VCHP and VHC? -- A Timeline of Events." While Ventura Hillsides Conservancy raises the money to acquire the hillsides, Ventura Citizens for Hillside Preservation is forging ahead with involvement in community planning which could impact our hillsides. We are focusing on areas where our involvement and influence can achieve results. We are making every effort to influence politicians and committees involved in decisions that could affect the future of our hillsides. VCHP has been active in a number of important community areas, such as Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) meetings, City Council and Planning Commission meetings, and collaboration with Ventura Hillsides Conservancy on issues related to their establishment and mission. We actively participated in the November 2003 election process to best further our goal of hillside preservation. We proudly endorsed only Bill Fulton for City Council, who won a seat to the Council with the highest number of votes of 7 candidates. We are grateful for your support of Bill's candidacy. One of our most important activities is the Comprehensive Plan Update project: • We have spoken at all Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) meetings on behalf of hillside preservation and encouraged our membership to participate. • We have been lobbying for re-designation of the hillside areas as Open Space to be compatible with the current designation for this land in county zoning ordinances (the hillsides are currently in the county). • We lobbied to make sure that the Comprehensive Plan committee recommendation does NOT include these hillside areas as "potential growth areas" for the City of Ventura • We promoted the concept of including an element in our Comprehensive Plan that will insure that our policy of slow growth is not only embraced by the citizens, but embedded in our Comprehensive Plan as a guiding policy for the next plan period through 2025. We welcome your participation and encourage you to become a member of Ventura Citizens for Hillside Preservation. Please click here to join. Any contributions to VCHP are not tax-deductible. It has been a pleasure to see so many of you support the campaign to elect Bill Fulton to Ventura City Council and giving needed input to CPAC and City Council. Please keep up the good work in furthering the goals of VCHP. Best regards, Diane Underhill, President

Preservation was originally part of the VCHP mission. To clarify what each organization will be doing in the future, we revised and refined the VCHP mission statement to concentrate our energies on the political side of the preservation issue. We will continue to work on hillside preservation, but our revised mission is to influence policy decisions through participating in the political process. We have prepared a fact sheet entitled, "What are the Differences Between VCHP and VHC? -- A Timeline of Events."

While Ventura Hillsides Conservancy raises the money to acquire the hillsides, Ventura Citizens for Hillside Preservation is forging ahead with involvement in community planning which could impact our hillsides. We are focusing on areas where our involvement and influence can achieve results. We are making every effort to influence politicians and committees involved in decisions that could affect the future of our hillsides.

VCHP has been active in a number of important community areas, such as Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) meetings, City Council and Planning Commission meetings, and collaboration with Ventura Hillsides Conservancy on issues related to their establishment and mission.

We actively participated in the November 2003 election process to best further our goal of hillside preservation. We proudly endorsed only Bill Fulton for City Council, who won a seat to the Council with the highest number of votes of 7 candidates. We are grateful for your support of Bill's candidacy.

• We have spoken at all Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) meetings on behalf of hillside preservation and encouraged our membership to participate.

• We have been lobbying for re-designation of the hillside areas as Open Space to be compatible with the current designation for this land in county zoning ordinances (the hillsides are currently in the county).

• We lobbied to make sure that the Comprehensive Plan committee recommendation does NOT include these hillside areas as "potential growth areas" for the City of Ventura

• We promoted the concept of including an element in our Comprehensive Plan that will insure that our policy of slow growth is not only embraced by the citizens, but embedded in our Comprehensive Plan as a guiding policy for the next plan period through 2025.

We welcome your participation and encourage you to become a member of Ventura Citizens for Hillside Preservation. Please click here to join. Any contributions to VCHP are not tax-deductible.

It has been a pleasure to see so many of you support the campaign to elect Bill Fulton to Ventura City Council and giving needed input to CPAC and City Council. Please keep up the good work in furthering the goals of VCHP.