Camarillo Baseball : $500,000, 20 Acres Is Offered to Group

A Camarillo-based group has offered to donate 20 acres and $500,000 toward a stadium for Ken McMullen’s recently purchased minor league baseball team, it was announced Friday.

The donation of the land and the money, however, is contingent upon the Camarillo City Council’s approval of a plan that would rezone the 20-acre parcel, which is part of a 158-acre agricultural preserve zoned to prohibit commercial or industrial developments.

“We’ve proposed to donate the land and cash in return for approval of a new general plan for the 158 acres,” said Dave White, vice president of Ag Land Services, one of the owners of the land. “We would be agreeable to rezoning the land gradually, over several phases, possibly four to five years, and are offering the 20 acres as a starting point.”

Three parties own the property jointly: John Borchard Sr. and John Borchard Jr., longtime residents of Ventura County; Ag Land Services, a Camarillo group led by president Craig Mason and White, and the Horton Company, a San Diego-based investment group.

All three parties would contribute to the cash and land offer.

“I’m overwhelmed,” said Dr. DeWayne Jones, chairman of the Camarillo Stadium Authority, a nonprofit group formed last month to solicit private donations for the stadium project. “You just don’t get offers like that every day.”

McMullen could not be reached for comment.

The property, which is located in the center of Camarillo, is bordered to the north by Flynn Road, to the east by Lewis Road and the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks and to the south by Las Posas and Upland Roads. There is no road on the property’s western boundary.

White said he and the other owners had begun plans to upgrade the agricultural land more than six months ago. But when the group heard about the Camarillo City Council’s rejection of a proposal to provide $750,000 to help fund the construction of the stadium, White said, they decided to try to incorporate a stadium facility in their plans.

“The stadium just accelerated our plans,” White said. “It was a catalyst for us to begin a new general plan for the property. . . . The decision to put in the $500,000 was done in hope of attracting other private support for the project. In addition to the $500,000 seed money, we also will have to pay another $500,000 to pay off a portion of the mortgage on the property. That’s $1 million in out-of-pocket expenses.”

According to White, his group will not hold any financial interest in the minor league franchise.

White and his partners bought the agricultural property six years ago with plans to develop it into a commercial or industrial complex. The property is bordered to the west by industrial developments.