More Time Sought to Move Oxnard Homeless Shelter

Officials with an Oxnard homeless shelter plan to ask the city Planning Commission today for an extension of time to move to a new location.

The Zoe Christian Center will ask for an additional two years to relocate from its South Rose Avenue location, which the city says poses a health threat to residents of the shelter because it is near a fertilizer plant.

The extension would give the shelter time to acquire property and build a new building on a site in south Oxnard, at Pleasant Valley and Butler roads, that Zoe officials have selected from a list of locations suggested by city officials, said the Rev. Jim Gilmer, shelter executive director.

“In discussions with city and county representatives, it was stated that we shouldn’t have a problem if we have a permanent site identified, and we pretty much have,” Gilmer said.

City officials deemed the present location hazardous in 1986 and said at the time that they would not grant an extension beyond April 17, 1989, when a zoning variance expires. The variance allows the shelter to operate in an industrial zone.