CAMARILLO : Trustees to Study Parking Lot Plan

A proposal to build a new parking lot and community playground adjacent to Camarillo High School will be considered today by the Oxnard Union High School District Board of Trustees.

The proposed lot, which would be built on about five acres of an 11.89-acre parcel that would be bought for $3.1 million, would make the journey to and from Camarillo High School safer for students who drive to school, officials say. Students park across the street and must dodge heavy traffic on Mission Oaks Boulevard to get to classes.

“It’s very important in terms of the safety issue,” district Business Manager Bob Brown said of the arking lot. “It’s dangerous to have students crossing the street in the early morning hours when traffic is particularly heavy, and then again in the afternoon.”

No serious accidents near the school have been reported, but Principal Don Bathgate said he is concerned that the steady stream of traffic on Mission Oaks Boulevard endangers students’ lives. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have a student hit,” he said.

If trustees agree to the $6-per-square-foot purchase price, the district hopes to develop the remaining portion of the land into a community playground and athletic fields once the parking lot is built.

Negotiations began in 1980 to buy the property from owners James FitzGerald, Geraldine Chapman FitzGerald, Gerald FitzGerald and Carmelita Nicholson, but repeatedly stalled over the purchase price. The four agreed to accept the school district’s latest offer.

Certificates of participation to finance the land purchase were issued last December, Brown said. The trustees will meet at 5 p.m., in the district office, 309 South K St., Oxnard.