Smaller Outlet Center Is Backed

Directors of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce have voted to support a scaled-down version of the Sammis factory outlet center after a four-month review of how the massive project would affect the city.

“Given the whole economic picture, the benefits of the project balanced out,” Evie Bystrom-Herrera, the chamber’s executive director, said Friday.

The chamber stopped short of supporting the entire 927,700-square-foot center proposed by Sammis that would include factory outlets, a hotel and recreation area and specialty retail shops.

“Clearly, it was too much,” Bystrom-Herrera said.

And the chamber qualified its endorsement of the smaller alternatives, saying Sammis must first deliver on promised improvements before the center is built and dedicate undeveloped land as a permanent greenbelt.

In a survey answered by 235 of its members, the chamber found that retailers opposed the mixed-use center, but service companies and manufacturers support it.

Overall, 51% supported some type of Sammis project, but fewer than half of those backed the full-sized alternative.

A 12-person chamber task force studied how the center would affect Camarillo’s economy and environment and reviewed the status of other proposed projects.