COUNTYWIDE : Airports’ Economic Effect to Be Studied

The county Aviation Advisory Commission Thursday ordered an evaluation of the impact that Camarillo and Oxnard airports have on the local economy.

The study is expected to cost $40,000. Three consultants have offered proposals, but no decision has been made on who will get the contract.

Among the areas to be evaluated are how the airports help generate jobs, hotel business and a higher property tax base in the two cities.

The study, commissioners said, is being done to help blunt complaints about noise by local neighborhood groups.

“As I understand it, it isn’t for us, it’s for those neighbors who don’t like us that much, to justify our being here,” Commissioner Dana Brenner said.

But Commissioner Roger Harvey voted against the study, saying the cost was too high and the study could be performed more cheaply by volunteers.

Brenner said most of the probable volunteers would be local business people with a vested interest in the airports’ continued operation. He said having such people work on the study would undermine its credibility.