Economy Poses Hard Questions for the Santa Clara Valley

It may be a new year, but 1997 is likely to bring a continuation of the Santa Clara Valley’s familiar economic balancing act between tourism and industry.

In a region where salaries and sales-tax receipts are among the county’s lowest, the need for new jobs and development is a constant refrain. But so, too, is the concern that encroaching urbanism will destroy the valley’s cherished rural ambience.

Last year, valley residents managed to defeat a proposed strip mine between Santa Paula and Fillmore, but lost the battle to prevent the expansion of Toland Road Landfill in the same area.

Looming in 1997 is a potential fight over Newhall Ranch, a planned community of 70,000 residents just over the county line in Los Angeles County that many fear will bring urban woes to the rural region.

And Santa Paula is one of three to five California sites under consideration for a $350-million wastepaper recycling plant that could provide 320 new jobs.

“It is difficult,” acknowledged Jim Garfield, a newly elected Santa Paula councilman who campaigned on a platform of bringing new jobs to the depressed agricultural community. “We’ve got to get something in here that stimulates the local economy. . . . [But] there’s a delicate balance between how much industry do you want and how much agriculture do you want to retain, and I think you’ll find most people in this valley want to retain as much agriculture as possible.”

The key for the Santa Clara Valley is finding the “right” kind of development, a subjective notion that has largely meant focusing on tourism. Officials hope the relatively clean industry will lead to visitors leaving little evidence of their presence aside from cash.

In Fillmore last year, officials unveiled a shiny, new downtown that erased the remaining ravages of 1994’s Northridge earthquake while retaining the quaint architecture of the 1930s and 1940s that, it is hoped, draws tourists.

During 1997, city officials will continue to hone their tourism focus.

A winery is scheduled to begin uncorking bottles next week behind the $2-million City Hall that will open its doors to the public today. A natural history museum is expected to be in operation by June.

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City officials are also talking to prospective operators of a microbrewery, with $100,000 in redevelopment money set aside to help finance the project.

And Mayor Roger Campbell foresees placing half a dozen railroad cars along the tracks near City Hall as space for antiques or crafts stores.

“I see an economic growth spurt coming into Fillmore,” he said. “This coming year will be the time when people discover Fillmore as a great place to come and spend a day.”

The development would add to the increased sales-tax receipts the city anticipates from a mall that opened last year and the expansion of two car dealerships. One has already moved into its new location, while the Chevrolet dealership is set to open at 4:31 a.m. Jan. 17--the exact time the Northridge earthquake struck three years ago and irreparably damaged its former building.

Down the road in Santa Paula, the economic optimism is not quite as pronounced.

The city lost scores of jobs in 1995 with the closures of a lingerie factory and one of the city’s two main grocery stores and layoffs at the local hospital.

“Things have not been good economically for us this past year,” Garfield said. “Is it going to be better next year? There’s no guarantees.”

Indeed, Vista Honda is trying to move from Santa Paula to Ventura, taking with it more jobs and the city’s $82,000 share of its sales-tax revenues--roughly equivalent to the salaries of two police officers.

A state DMV panel will hold a hearing on the matter Jan. 21 in Sacramento.

In addition, Pratt Industries, one of Australia’s largest privately held companies, is eyeing a site south of Santa Paula’s wastewater-treatment plant for its new West Coast paper-recycling facility.

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Council members are reluctant to discuss the possibility of the hundreds of new jobs that would come along--or whether the city even wants a 940-foot-long building within its boundaries--at this stage of Pratt’s search.

Still, Economic Development Director Ken Cott believes Santa Paula will see industrial construction and expansion this year.

Fruit Growers Supply Co., one of the top three sales-tax generators for the city, is looking to expand to a larger site in the community, he said.

But since the city is 95% to 97% built out, the council--along with the new city manager, who is expected to be hired shortly--will examine the possibility of expanding its boundaries to make room for upscale housing or businesses, Garfield said. Former City Manager Arnold Dowdy left Santa Paula to work for the county.

Still, tourism is again the main focus in Santa Paula. After almost a decade of planning, a $2.3-million revamping of the city’s time-worn downtown is expected to begin in May and be completed by November. The project includes decorative street lights and trash receptacles and new trees, curbs, gutters and sidewalks.

“It’s not going to cure our economic woes in itself, but I think it will create . . . some community pride and community involvement,” Mayor Robin Sullivan said. “People think that talking about beautification is fluff. Well, it’s not fluff because it goes to the very heart of what people think about their community. . . . If we’re not showing pride in our community, how can we expect other people to want to come and be here?”

Also gathering momentum is the Heritage Trail, a marketing concept rather than physical path that recognizes that the valley will be better equipped to draw visitors if Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru pool resources.

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A $27,000 county contract to hire a company that will refine the idea will soon be awarded, said Christy Madden, the county’s economic recovery coordinator.

In addition, the county is applying for a $100,000 state grant it would match with a like amount to extend an existing railroad track 1,400 feet into downtown Piru. It is envisioned that the track extension, which could be laid this year, will eventually enable visitors to travel to the tiny community more easily via a Fillmore-based excursion train, Madden said.

Piru is still recovering from the earthquake that essentially flattened its business district--residents’ big hope is that an automatic teller machine will be installed in 1997, since there is no bank office there. Still, the county is in the process of getting cost estimates for period-style sidewalks and street lighting to improve the community’s appearance for those eventual visitors, Madden said.