OXNARD : Plea to Alter Harbor District Is Denied

A Camarillo resident’s request to change the Oxnard Harbor District boundaries and hold an election on the issue was denied Wednesday.

The Local Agency Formation Commission voted against the request by William Buenger, who is also the port’s deputy executive director, because he presented no new information to warrant LAFCO changing its position, officials said.

The meeting was the most recent step in a struggle by LAFCO to shrink the district’s boundaries to include just the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Those cities were deemed by LAFCO to be most affected by the profitable, deep-sea Port of Hueneme. But district board members want boundaries to include the whole county.

The issue will go before the city of Port Hueneme for a hearing. If more than 25% of residents protest LAFCO’s decision, an election will be held.

To rally 25% of an 80,000-resident district, which owns and operates the port, is an impossible task, one harbor commissioner said.

The port’s board may challenge the constitutionality of the state law requiring 25% of the district to protest the decision, said Anthony Taormina, port executive director.

LAFCO first approved shrinking the harbor district’s boundaries in March, a move that excluded Camarillo, half of Thousand Oaks and unincorporated areas.

That decision was challenged by the district, and a Superior Court judge overturned LAFCO’s decision. The judge ruled that LAFCO failed to consider letting district voters decide on the boundary change. On Oct. 17, the agency returned a decision that no election was necessary. Wednesday’s hearing was an attempt to reverse that October decision.