Agricultural Job and Water Loss. The active lemon orchard has already been bulldozed. The remaining avocado grove depends on continued agricultural water and may not survive once that water is severed. When agricultural water is lost, agriculture on the site ends. The impacts extend far beyond the property itself, affecting farmworkers, irrigation crews, harvest workers, truck drivers, packing-house employees, agricultural suppliers, fruit handlers, distributors, and fruit buyers. Every one of those jobs helps support families, children, and local businesses throughout Ventura County.

Rather than paving over prime farmland, the loss of the lemon orchard should be reversed through replanting and renewed agricultural production. A new orchard would create and sustain agricultural jobs for decades, support working families, generate economic activity throughout the agricultural supply chain, and preserve the productive use of prime farmland. Converting the land to urban development does the opposite. It permanently removes agricultural land, agricultural water, and the opportunity for future agricultural employment from the site.

My name is Steve Bostock.

I am not a lawyer, politician, or professional activist. I am a Ventura County tradesman and custom glass fabricator who has spent more than 40 years building things carefully, honestly, and the right way.

I never set out to become a litigant.

I set out to find an answer.

More than three and a half years ago, I began reviewing records, attending hearings, and asking questions about the proposed Ventura Ranch project on the farmland directly behind my home.

I believed that if I followed the public process, reviewed the documents, and asked the right questions, I would eventually find a clear answer in the public record.

Instead, after thousands of hours of research, hundreds of public records requests, and the review of thousands of pages of documents, one question remained:

What adopted authority supports the Ventura Ranch approval pathway?

That question ultimately led me to file a Writ of Mandamus against the County of Ventura.

This Is Not Opposition to Farmworkers

Farmworkers are essential to Ventura County, and safe, dignified housing matters.

My writ does not question whether farmworker housing is important.

It asks whether the public record identifies the adopted authority, findings, and determinations supporting this particular 328-unit project at this particular location through the approval pathway used by the County.

The materials I reviewed identify this area within an Agriculture and Open Space framework. The County later approved Ventura Ranch using an ECU-Agricultural and Existing Community framework. After years of research, I still could not identify a clearly documented adopted act in the public record that answered the central authority question.

If that authority exists, it should be identifiable.

If no additional authority was required, the public record should identify the adopted provision establishing why.

The public should not have to guess.

Why I Filed the Writ

I did everything an ordinary resident is encouraged to do.

I attended hearings. I submitted comments. I filed Public Records Act requests. I reviewed documents. I participated in the available administrative process.

I also created NoVenturaRanch.com so that anyone interested could review the documents, examine the evidence, and follow the record for themselves.

I kept believing that somewhere along the way the answer would become clear.

It never did.

Eventually, I faced a simple choice: walk away after years of work or ask the Court to review the question.

I chose to ask the Court.

The writ asks whether the Ventura Ranch approval pathway is supported by identifiable adopted authority in the public record.

It does not ask anyone to assume misconduct.

It does not ask anyone to accept accusations.

It asks that the record be followed.

This Has Become Larger Than My Backyard

This began with a project proposed directly behind my home.

But after years of research, it became about something much larger.

It became about whether an ordinary citizen can trace the authority supporting a major government decision.

It became about whether voter-approved protections can be followed through the public record.

It became about whether farmland can be permanently transformed without the public being able to identify the authority, determination, or provision supporting that transformation.

Because once farmland is paved, it does not come back.

The soil remains covered. The agricultural use is gone. The open landscape is changed forever.

Decisions with irreversible consequences deserve a clear and transparent record.

Why I Am Raising Funds

For more than three and a half years, I have personally invested thousands of hours researching the Ventura Ranch approval, reviewing records, organizing evidence, attending hearings, and building NoVenturaRanch.com.

I have done this work as a private citizen, not as an attorney.

I have brought this case as far as I reasonably can as a self-represented litigant.

The litigation has now reached a stage where I believe experienced legal counsel is necessary to ensure that the evidence, legal issues, and administrative record are presented as effectively as possible.

That is the purpose of this GoFundMe campaign.

Funds raised will help support:

✅ Attorney consultation and legal representation

✅ Court filing and service expenses

✅ Administrative record preparation and review

✅ Legal research and motion preparation

✅ Public records work and evidence organization

✅ Other necessary litigation-related costs

✅ Continued public education through NoVenturaRanch.com

I am not raising money to oppose housing at all costs.

I am raising money because I believe that questions involving public authority, voter-approved protections, government accountability, and irreplaceable farmland deserve careful professional legal review.

What Your Support Means

Your contribution helps ensure that this case is not decided simply by a difference in resources.

It helps place qualified legal representation behind years of research, public participation, and evidence gathering.

It helps an ordinary resident ask a question that should matter to everyone:

When government permanently changes the future of protected farmland, can the public identify the adopted authority supporting that decision?

Whether the final answer supports my position or the County's position, I believe the public deserves a clear answer based on the record.

One Resident. One Writ. One Fundamental Question.

What adopted authority supports the Ventura Ranch approval pathway?

If the authority exists, identify it.

If no additional authority was required, identify the adopted provision establishing why.

Before this farmland is permanently changed, the public deserves a clear answer.

Please consider donating, sharing this fundraiser, and helping me bring qualified legal representation to this case.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and standing with me.

Protect Farmland. Support Farmworkers. Follow the Record.

Steve Bostock

Ventura County Resident

Founder, NoVenturaRanch.com