Growth to Dominate Campaigns in Oxnard : Politics: Twelve candidates are seeking 2 council seats, and 6 hopefuls are running for mayor. The filing period closed Friday.

Concern over the pace of development in Oxnard, a city known for courting developers, has become the most prominent issue among candidates running in the November race for two council seats and the mayor’s post.

The filing period, which opened on July 16, closed Friday with 12 candidates running for the two council posts and six hopefuls seeking the mayor’s seat.

The two-year term of pro-growth Mayor Nao Takasugi expires in November along with the four-year council terms of pro-growth Councilman Manuel Lopez and Councilwoman Ann Johs, who describes herself as an advocate of moderate growth. All three are seeking reelection.

Councilwoman Dorothy Maron, a 10-year council veteran who has two years left on her current term, is challenging Takasugi for the mayoral post. She has recently begun to advocate limits on the city’s future growth.

In campaign statements and interviews, most of the challengers have characterized themselves as slow-growth or no-growth advocates in hopes of tapping into what they believe is a growing wave of slow-growth sentiment in the city.

“Our current council members seem to feel that more growth will solve everything, when in reality, the growth they have approved has led to many of the fiscal problems that now plague our city,” said council candidate Scott Weiss, a self-employed accountant and founder of a local slow-growth organization.

The interest in development issues was heightened this year when the Planning Commission gave preliminary approval to a new General Plan, which projects a population increase of nearly 41,000 and a 135% increase in commercial development. The document, which will guide growth in the city for the next 30 years, will be considered by the council at the end of this month.

However, incumbents Takasugi and Lopez said that growth in Oxnard has been well planned and responsible and that they are not vulnerable on the growth issue.

“We don’t have the rampant, out-of-control growth that they are alleging,” said Takasugi, a four-term incumbent and former market owner and operator.

Some challengers cited the surprising victory of political newcomer Maria K. VanderKolk over veteran Ventura County Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer as proof that county residents are adamant about the growth issue.

But Takasugi said he believes that VanderKolk’s victory was based on her opposition to the controversial Jordon Ranch land swap and was not a mandate against growth.

“I think some candidates are riding on the coattails of a perceived movement,” he said.

Lopez, an optometrist who is seeking his fourth term, defended the city’s growth policies. But he added that the city needs a more balanced development plan--less residential and more commercial and industrial--to balance the city’s finances.

Challengers and incumbents also said that prominent in the minds of voters are Oxnard’s financial problems, which have plagued the city for more than a year.

During budget sessions in June, the City Council had to order deep cuts and juggle various funds to avoid a $2.6-million deficit in fiscal 1990-91. City officials said a series of financial developments beyond the city’s control--such as a sluggish economy--caused the fiscal problems.

The most vociferous critic of the city’s financial policies has been Scott Bollinger, a self-employed investor who is running for mayor. “We simply need someone with enough common sense to run the city like an honest business,” he said.

In May, Bollinger called for a state municipal executive to take control of the city government while the state investigates the city’s finances, which he said are being drained by incompetent and corrupt city officials, an allegation city officials deny.

Paul Chatman, a merchandise manager who is running for council, said he believes that residents want stronger finances to pay for increased police and fire protection--two services that have suffered reductions because of budget cuts over the last two years.

Maron, who for many years supported the city’s development policies, announced her bid for mayor last month, saying it is time to put the brakes on the city’s growth.

She said the city has been plagued by financial problems because it has given developers too many incentives to build in the city. “What good is growth when we are giving up half of everything,” she said.

She said the city has given developers of an automobile center near the Ventura Freeway and Oxnard Boulevard half of the sales tax revenues generated during the first 30 years of the project.

“We are the place everybody wants to come to,” she said. “There is no reason to give all of these benefits to developers.”

However, city officials said sales tax revenues for the city have increased steadily for the last five years. During fiscal 1989-90 sales tax revenues were estimated at $11.5 million, compared to $10.1 million the previous year.

Maron acknowledged that Takasugi will be hard to beat in November. “I’m running against a lot of money,” she said.

In his 1988 reelection bid, Takasugi spent more than $160,000 in campaign contributions, outspending his nearest competitor by more than a 3-to-1 margin. Many candidates believe that he will either match or surpass that amount this year.

Johs, who is seeking her second four-year term, said if reelected she hopes to improve the city’s financial standing, work to relieve traffic problems and improve air quality.

Eleanor Branthoover, chairwoman of Inter-Neighborhood Council, which oversees more than 30 neighborhood councils throughout the city, said she considers herself an advocate for controlled growth. She has been a vocal critic of several large residential and commercial developments in the city.

The other candidates for the two council seats are Oscar Karrin, a retired butcher and long-time city activist; Roy Lockwood, a retired federal fire chief; Richard A. Morrisset, an accountant and attorney; Bedford Pinkard, a city Parks and Recreation Department supervisor; Michael A. Plisky, a former councilman and business and tax consultant; Robert (Randy) Randolph, a former city refuse supervisor; and Fred Swartz, a retired aerospace engineer.

The other mayoral candidates are John Cobian, a television and radio commentator; Debra L. DeMoss, a homemaker and salesperson; and John Soria, a semi-retired administrator.

The total of 18 candidates in this year’s race compares to a record 25 candidates in 1972, when three council seats were being contested, city officials said.