Ventura Ranch Farmworker Housing Project
The County has received an application for Ventura Ranch, a 100 percent affordable, for-rent farmworker housing complex.
Project Information
Case Number: PL23-0051
Applicant: Ventura Ranch Partners, LLC
Contact Information
For general questions about the project, please contact: VenturaRanchHousing@VenturaCounty.gov
To sign up for project updates, please fill out the form below.
Project Description
The County received applications on May 12, 2023, for a Planned Development Permit, a Tentative Parcel Map, and a Discretionary Tree Permit for a farmworker housing complex called Ventura Ranch. The application was deemed complete on April 24, 2024.
The Planned Development Permit would authorize the construction of a 328-unit farmworker housing complex on approximately 19.6-acres of the overall 82.9-acre project site. The proposed farmworker housing complex would be 100 percent affordable to those farmworkers and their families who qualify as lower income, which is classified as individuals and families who make 80 percent or below of the area median income. The community would be designed in a Spanish Colonial style with 17 three story residential buildings, one three-story residential building with a ground floor community center, and one single story community center. The project would include one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.
The proposed project also includes a community garden, a central basketball court with an outdoor recreation area, two playgrounds, outdoor picnic and barbecue areas, a corn hole court, and a bocce ball court. Access to the community would be provided with two driveways on Ventura Avenue. A third connection to Floral Drive in the northeast corner will be for emergencies only, with a locked emergency access gate meeting the County Fire Department standards. This connection would also provide the adjacent Valley Vista neighborhood with a secondary means of egress during emergency conditions.
The farmhouse, garage, and barn at the southwest corner of the property will be removed to accommodate the secondary driveway access to the project, and the 63-acre conservation parcel, would be accessed using an easement across the project site to Ventura Avenue.
The proposed Tentative Parcel Map would create four parcels:
- Three parcels comprising the farmworker housing complex, encompassing approximately 19.6 total acres; and
- A 63.3-acre conservation parcel to remain permanently as open space.
Location
The approximately 82.9-acre project site is located at 4884 North Ventura Avenue in the unincorporated part of Ventura County, north of the City of Ventura on Assessor Parcel Numbers (APNs) 063-0-110-090; 063-0-110-145; 063-0-110-035, and 063-0-110-065. The site lies at the southeast corner of Norway Drive and North Ventura Avenue, approximately 1.5 miles north of the City of Ventura.
Site Plan
Status
The project application has been deemed complete as of April 24, 2024. A complete application means that the County has the required information necessary to evaluate the project for environmental impacts, and for consistency with the General Plan and applicable ordinances. Project application completeness does not authorize the proposed project to be constructed.
The project has not yet been approved. It is tentatively scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 8:30 am. The Planning Commission’s action may be appealed to the Board of Supervisors within 10 days of approval / disapproval. If the proposal is approved, the applicant would still need to complete required conditions of approval, including any environmental mitigation measures, and obtain construction and grading permits before commencing site work.
Environmental Review
All discretionary permit applications must be considered under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to determine their potential to result in significant environmental impacts. CEQA is found in Section 21000 et seq. of the California Public Resources Code. The CEQA Guidelines, which are regulations implementing CEQA, are found in Title 14, Section 15000 et seq. of the California Code of Regulations.
Most projects will require the preparation of an Initial Study. However, some projects are exempt from this requirement. The Initial Study will determine what type of environmental document is prepared:
- A Negative Declaration (ND) – i.e., a determination that the project will not result in significant impacts.
- A Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) – i.e., a determination that the project would result in significant impacts, but that mitigation measures could be incorporated into the project which will make those impacts less than significant.
- An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) – i.e., a comprehensive analysis of the significant impacts that the project could result in.
Projects may be exempt from the preparation of an Initial Study if a specific CEQA exemption applies or if the project is eligible for CEQA streamlining.
In this case, County agencies considered the project scope and determined it is eligible for streamlining under Section 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines, because the project involves development consistent with the General Plan and an EIR was completed for the General Plan. Specifically, all of the following criteria are met:
- The project is consistent with the development density established by existing zoning and general plan policies for which an EIR (i.e., the General Plan EIR) was adopted.
- There are no project-specific effects which are peculiar to the type of project or the project site.
- There are no project-specific impacts which the General Plan EIR failed to analyze as significant effects.
- There are no potentially significant off-site and/or cumulative impacts that the General Plan EIR failed to evaluate.
- There is no substantial new information which results in more sever impacts than were anticipated under the General Plan EIR.
Unlike other statutory and categorical CEQA exemptions, a project being reviewed under Section 15183 requires a more detailed environmental analysis to document how each of the above criteria are satisfied. At the applicant’s request, the Planning Division is providing the draft Section 15183 environmental review checklist for review and comment beginning December 5, 2025. The comment period for this document ends on December 19, 2025. You may submit written comments in the following ways:
By mail or in person: Ventura County Planning Division | By email: |
Interested Parties Contact List
The County is maintaining a list of interested parties, which you can join by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. Adjacent property owners will receive a mailed postcard notice and interested parties will receive an email notice of any environmental documents being circulated for public comment. Additionally, these interested parties lists will be used for notification of the future public hearing.
Ventura Ranch Farmworker Housing Project
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