The Ventura County Planning Commission opposed a proposal earlier this month that would prohibit churches, clubhouses, community centers, private schools and other places of assembly from being built in unincorporated open space. It would also ban the use of lights at night.

The ordinance was written by planning staff at the request of the Board of Supervisors, who will vote Tues., Feb. 23 on the proposal. The law would create a special land-use category for places of assembly and not allow such use in the county’s pockets of undeveloped land.

Commissioners voted 3-1 to recommend that supervisors reject the proposal, which, despite its wording, is intended to make county open space regulations compliant with a federal landuse act that protects religious institutions from discriminatory practices.

Mike Wessner, who represents the 4th District on the county planning commission, said he voted against the ordinance because it’s arbitrary and doesn’t achieve its intended purpose.

“I just felt it was poorly written. It’s confusing, and it causes more problems than it solves, particularly for four existing property owners,” Wessner said.

Under the new proposal, a private college outside of Santa Paula, a nonprofit organization in Ojai Valley, an office of the Ventura Regional Sanitation District close to Oxnard and the Tom Barber Golf Center driving range near Moorpark would become nonconforming uses.

As such, they would need the approval of the planning commission to renew their temporary permits or to expand. If they were turned down by the commission, they could be put out of business.

“It’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water,” said Wessner, who wants the properties exempt from the proposed ordinance.

Bruce Smith, section manager for the Ventura County Planning Department, said outdoor recreation facilities are allowed because they give the public a venue for activities consistent with the goal of open space.

But night lighting for recreation isn’t allowed in designated open space because bright lights aren’t compatible with the preservation of natural resources, Smith said.

“To be consistent, golf courses with night lighting are proposed for removal from allowable uses in the open space zone,” he said.

At a meeting earlier this month, Moorpark city officials endorsed the ordinance because they said it would limit urban development in Tierra Rejada Valley.

Moorpark council members specifically mentioned the bright night lights that illuminate the Tom Barber Golf Range next to the 23 Freeway on Tierra Rejada Road, saying the city had received many complaints from residents about the lights. The driving range was approved in the late ’90s.

“When you drive on the 23 Freeway, all you see are these bright lights,” said Mayor Janice Parvin. “Residents have been complaining about the lights since the day the center opened.”

Under the proposed ordinance, the golf range would need approval from the county planning commission to continue night operations when its conditional use permit expires in 2017.

Tom Barber, managing partner and owner of the golf center, said the concerns of Moorpark officials are unsubstantiated and that he’s pleased with the planning commission’s recommendation to reject the proposed ordinance.

“The only people that complain about our lights are politicians,” Barber told the Acorn . The lights go off promptly at 10 p.m., he said.

“If we’re not allowed to use lights, we’ll probably go out of business. The bulk of our business is in the evening hours,” Barber said. “It’s like telling a restaurant you can’t serve steak anymore, you can only serve chicken.”

The impetus for the proposed ordinance is a two-year battle between the county and Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley over the church’s plans to construct a 140-acre religious campus on a piece of land in the Tierra Rejada greenbelt near the Reagan Library.

In 2008, the church cited the federal Religious Land Use Act (RLUA) when the county opposed its proposal, which included a church, a college and headquarters for a faith-based nonprofit group that feeds and ministers to people in poor countries. The law restricts government from imposing regulations that substantially burden the exercise of religion.

The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in March last year to approve the church campus without the nonprofit food ministry because a majority of supervisors were concerned about potential truck traffic.

Smith said the RLUA prevents the county from entirely banning churches, but it can prohibit them from certain zones, provided the same restrictions exist for nonreligious enterprises.

Since religious organizations aren’t allowed in open-space zones, to be in compliance with federal laws the county must also disallow nonreligious assembly uses as well, Smith said.

Debra Tash, president of the local chapter of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, a group fighting for less government regulation, said churches should be allowed.

“With a discretionary permit you can still have that golf course, jail, motocross (track) and RV park, but God forbid you should want to build a church,” she said.

Tash, who’s been fighting with the county to ease regulations for property owners, said she’s glad commissioners voted to reject the new ordinance and hopes county supervisors will do the same.

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it might not be a train. We feel they’re actually listening to the people of this county,” she said.