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Land Conservation Act (LCA) Program

Sunlit farm fields with rows of crops leading towards distant mountains under a clear sky.

On December 10, 2019, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors adopted amendments to the Ventura County Land Conservation Act Guidelines. These amendments establish a Monitoring and Enforcement element to the Guidelines and authorize the County to initiate the nonrenewal process for breach of contracts. The updated LCA Guidelines can be found here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The first year’s increase will typically be the most substantial.

The Agricultural Preserve Questionnaires are mailed to the owner of record for each property by mid-December. This is the same address that annual property tax bills are sent to. If you did not receive your form, please contact the Assessor’s Office to make sure your mailing address is correct. Forms may also be downloaded from the Assessor’s website here.

Completed Agricultural Preserve Questionnaires are due to the Assessor postmarked by March 1st. If March 1st falls on a weekend, the completed forms need to be postmarked by the next business day. Incomplete forms will be returned to the contract holder and will not count as being received timely. Please refer to your cover letter for a detailed explanation of what information is needed for each question.

Any contracts where the completed forms were not timely postmarked will be in non-compliance and the County may initiate nonrenewal.

Yes. If the landowner wishes to protest the County’s decision to non-renew the contract, the landowner must file an appeal form with the County. The completed appeal form, along with a fee deposit and a completed fee reimbursement agreement, must be received within 30 calendar days from the date of the County’s Notice of Nonrenewal. If the County’s Notice of Nonrenewal cites a landowner’s failure to timely submit a Questionnaire as the sole basis for the decision to non-renew the contract, then no fee deposit or reimbursement agreement is required to be submitted along with the appeal form. If a landowner timely protests a County decision to non-renew a contract in accordance with these requirements, a protest hearing shall be held at which the landowner may present testimony and evidence to support the landowner’s protest. These procedures are set forth in Section X.C on pages 23 and 24 of the revised LCA Guidelines.

Yes, the landowner may submit an LCA Contract application for review on or before the first Friday in June if the property is currently in nonrenewal. An LCA contract may be approved if the property meets the current eligibility requirements for the requested contract. LCA eligibility requirements and application information can found here.

Please contact the Assessor’s Office for a summary comparison of your Proposition 13 base year value, discounted Proposition 13 value and LCA value. The Assessor’s Office Rural Section staff are available, Monday – Friday, from 8:00am – 5:00pm at 805-654-2181.
If you have questions on the Land Conservation Act Program, please contact LCA Planner, Kristina Boero, at 805-654-2467 or Kristina.Boero@ventura.org.

On December 8, 2020, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to continue the County’s Land Conservation Act (LCA) program for the 2021 cycle. Click here to view the Board Letter. You may also view a video of the presentation and Board’s discussion by clicking on the “Agendas, Documents and Broadcasts” link at ww.ventura.org/board-of-supervisors.

The California Land Conservation Act (LCA) Program, also known as the “Williamson Act,” is a voluntary land conservation program adopted by the California Legislature in 1965 and administered by the County of Ventura since 1969 for the following purposes:

  • To help preserve the limited and diminishing supply of agricultural land in the county through agricultural LCA Contracts
  • To encourage production of food, fiber, and ornamental crops and commodities for local, regional, state, national, and international markets
  • To discourage premature conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural land uses
  • To help sustain and promote the county’s commercial agricultural industry and the direct, indirect, and imputed effect on the countywide and state economy
  • To allow compatible uses within agricultural Contracts that do not hinder or compromise the existing or potential agricultural productivity of agricultural land.
  • To help preserve wildlife habitat areas through open space (wildlife habitat) LCA Contracts
  • To allow compatible uses within open space LCA Contracts that do not adversely affect the preservation of wildlife habitat areas.

How the Program Works

At the heart of the LCA Program is a contract between the County and qualifying landowners that restricts contracted land to agricultural or open space uses for either 10 years (LCA Contract) or 20 years (Farmland Security Zone Act, “FSZA”). In exchange for the land use restriction, the contracting landowner receives preferential property tax treatment.

The contract renews automatically annually unless the nonrenewal process is initiated by either party to the contract. Under nonrenewal, the contract term is not renewed annually but “winds down” over the remaining 9 or 19 years of the contract term with taxes incrementally rising to the full, unrestricted rate. Once the contract expires, the land is no longer restricted to agricultural or open space uses. Cancellation of the contract is also available to the landowner in extremely limited circumstances.

LCA contract application deadlines are as follows:

New LCA or FSZA contracts or Nonrenewal of a Portion of the Contract must be submitted no later than the first Friday in June to be effective the following calendar year.

Nonrenewal of an Entire Contract must be submitted no later than October 1 (if Saturday or Sunday, then the following Monday) to be effective the following calendar year. If, after you have reviewed the information available on-line as indicated below, you have questions regarding your particular property, wish to request a contract application, or need information regarding other LCA Program specifics, please contact Alec Thille, LCA Program Coordinator, at (805) 933-2926 ext.1112 or at Alec.Thille@ventura.org.

Ventura County Planning Division

Ventura County Assessor's Office LCA Contract Property Tax Information

Click here to view information on the tax reduction calculation at the Assessor’s office LCA webpage or contact Maddie Hendrych, Maddie.Hendrych@ventura.org, ph# (805) 477-1545, or Ben Phelps, Ben.Phelps@ventura.org, ph# (805) 477-1521.

State of California

Prospective Applicant's Checklists for Determining LCA Contract Eligibility

Additional checklists are not yet available online. If you have questions, please consult the LCA Guidelines and additional information on this webpage or contact the LCA program planner.

Application Forms

Not all LCA application forms and supplemental materials for the different application types are available online at this time. Please contact the LCA Program planner to confirm that you have all the necessary application materials for your proposed contract type or to obtain LCA application materials for an application type that is not yet posted here. A signed Reimbursement Agreement is required for all LCA application types.

Contact Us

Alec Thille

LCA Program Coordinator
Alec.Thille@ventura.org
(805) 933-2926 ext.1112

Maddie Hendrych

Assessor’s Office
Maddie.Hendrych@ventura.org
(805) 477-1545

Ben Phelps

Assessor’s Office
Ben.Phelps@ventura.org
(805) 477-1521

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