Opponents Jam Hearing on Center : Camarillo: Critics of the project overflow the City Council chambers. They want the 86 1/2-acre parcel left to farmers.

Opponents of a proposed shopping center in Camarillo jammed a second night of hearings Tuesday to tell the Planning Commission that they want the land where it would be built left for farmers.

Planning commissioners listened to testimony late into the night, but had not voted on the proposal by deadline.

Critics of the center overflowed the City Council chambers, with many applauding nearly four dozen speakers who criticized the project as an assault on the city’s semirural lifestyle.

The center was proposed by the Sammis Co. of Irvine for an 86 1/2-acre parcel south of the Ventura Freeway and east of Pleasant Valley Road. It would equal half the existing retail and service space in Camarillo.

Before the complex could be built, Sammis would have to obtain an amendment to the Camarillo General Plan authorizing a new use for the land, which is now designated for agriculture.

“The privilege of being able to enjoy the beauty of farming and its benefits weighs heavily against the benefit of being able to shop in a manufacturer’s outlet store a few miles closer than other stores with similar goods already in the area,” said Bill Torrence, president of the Ventura County League of Homeowners.

Saying that the county ranks 18th out of 3,175 counties nationwide in farm production, Torrence urged the commission to “lead the parade with other cities in Ventura County in supporting the (proposed) agricultural land trust.”

He said a land-trust study is nearly complete and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors will review it early next year.

Bill Supri, president of the Camarillo Springs Homeowners Assn., criticized the analysis of air quality in a study of the environmental effects of the proposed shopping center. He said the “imaginative authors” had lowered the emissions to a level of insignificance “by the generous application of paper, money and arcane accounting methods.”

Also criticizing the environmental study’s treatment of air quality was Dr. Joe Halcomb of Camarillo. Referring to the three tons of pollutants the study estimates will be emitted by vehicles visiting the center, Halcomb asked, “Which is more important--the financial health of the community or the clinical health of its residents?”

But the proposed shopping center did have supporters at the hearing. Dave Smith of Camarillo said that development was inevitable on the property and that the Sammis proposal “will enhance the community, and any negatives will be outweighed by the benefits.”

Torrence submitted a petition with more than 4,600 protest signatures and businesswoman Lin Anderson turned in another 3,000 signatures.

Herb Warneke, a retired bank executive and resident of Camarillo’s Leisure Village, accused Sammis Co. of misleading residents in its media campaign.

Saying he never had been active in community politics before, Warneke added, “Now I am opposing this project for one reason--it is the right thing to do.”

Sammis submitted three plans for the center, each with a mix of factory outlets--discount shops aimed at “serious shoppers”--a hotel, specialty retail stores and a recreation area on 42 acres on the site’s northern side.

In the proposal preferred by Sammis, the southern half of the parcel would be reserved for retail shops. The full project would be equivalent to over half the existing retail space in Camarillo.

In the scaled-down alternatives, the remaining acreage would be set aside for research offices and retail shops or left in agricultural use for an indefinite period.

To accommodate the 40,000 motorists expected to stop at the center each day, new on-ramps would be constructed for both directions of the Ventura Freeway from Pleasant Valley Road, and extensions of Ridgeview Street and Adolfo Road would be built.

When the hearing began last week, Sammis proponents described the project as a boon to the area’s economy and predicted that the center could add $2.3 million in tax revenues to the city’s coffers.

“The city must develop a stable, long-term and reliable source of revenue,” said Russell Goodman, the regional president of Sammis. The company projects annual sales of $215 million if the entire center is approved.

Responding to criticism of the plan to develop prime farmland, Sammis attorney Allen Camp said the proposal follows county guidelines for restricting development within existing city boundaries.