A group of Ventura residents, fearful that structures taller than two stories would ruin views of the hillsides, has created a political action committee and plans to ask voters to establish maximum building heights.

Members of Ventura Citizens Organized for Responsible Development, or VCORD, say city leaders have repeatedly ignored their concerns. The group says too many tall buildings threaten to dull Ventura's character.

The group will hold a town-hall meeting tonight to introduce its initiative, the first step in what is likely to be a monthslong effort to qualify a measure for the ballot. The 7 p.m. meeting will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 5654 Ralston St.

"We are in danger of losing our sense of place," said co-founder Camille Harris, a midtown resident spurred to action when a three-story complex was approved in her neighborhood of mostly single-story bungalows.

The group's goal is to form a "view resources" committee and limit building heights citywide to 26 feet, except in the downtown, most of the Victoria Avenue corridor, around the city's two hospitals, and in areas designated for heavy commercial or manufacturing use, Harris said.

"We exempted every part of town where we could imagine (creation of) a decent job," she said.

Opponents, however, say such an initiative would be drastic and unnecessary.

City planners are drafting zoning rules that would reduce building height limits from six stories to three along most of Thompson Boulevard and East Main Street. Portions of Thompson near Sanjon Road would be limited to two stories, said Kaiser Ringwala, assistant director of community development.

Those standards could go to the City Council for adoption in the fall.

Ventura Mayor Carl Morehouse said three stories is appropriate along Thompson and Main and higher in the Five Points area to revitalize the corridors. Ballot measures have blocked development of farmland and hillsides, he said, and the city's 20-year growth blueprint identifies Main and Thompson for intensified development.

VCORD plans to collect feedback tonight and submit a formal initiative to the City Clerk's Office next week. City Attorney Bob Boehm would have two weeks to certify it. The group then would have to publish it in a local newspaper and collect signatures of 7,000 registered voters, or 10 percent of the city's roughly 70,000 voters. The deadline to make the November ballot would be May 18, according to the City Clerk's Office.

A special election would require signatures of 15 percent of registered voters, or 10,500.