Dole to Move Its Headquarters to Westlake Village : Food industry: The decision by the produce giant’s billionaire chairman is a backhanded swipe at Ventura County’s slow-growth policies.

Taking a backhanded swipe at Ventura County’s slow-growth policies, billionaire businessman David H. Murdock said Thursday that he has decided to move the world headquarters of his giant Dole Food Co. to Westlake Village in Los Angeles County.

Murdock said he considered moving the West Los Angeles headquarters to Ventura County, where he owns a second home. But he said he gave up on the notion when he was “welcomed with open arms” by Westlake Village.

“There are a lot of places in California that will investigate you and impede your progress,” Murdock said during a speech to more than 200 Ventura County business leaders. “You have an awful lot of that in Ventura County and Ventura.”

Yet, Murdock said he expects to hire 600 to 700 new employees, most of them from Ventura County, over the next 24 months at Dole’s new headquarters on Lindero Canyon Road. Murdock is Dole’s chairman and chief executive officer.

In his speech, Murdock criticized the slow pace of bureaucrats and detailed his influential role in Ventura County business.

“I own Lake Sherwood,” Murdock said, referring to the exclusive 600-home community he is developing next to his Arabian horse ranch in southwestern Ventura County. “This is the location I like best in all the world.”

He said he has already hired 80 Ventura County residents at Dole’s temporary headquarters in Westlake Village. Dole moved to the temporary site from West Los Angeles in September. The company is constructing one building for its new headquarters complex and refurbishing another building purchased from Unisys Corp.

In addition to creating new job opportunities, Murdock said that Dole employs more than 650 workers in Ventura County’s lemon, strawberry and vegetable fields and packing plants. He described Dole as the world’s largest producer, shipper and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Murdock was a featured speaker at the annual Business Outlook Conference of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. at the Oxnard Hilton.

At one time, he said he was considering Ventura County for both its corporate headquarters and its primary port for shipping its California-grown produce overseas.

But he picked Westlake Village after the city “made it clear that we would be welcome there,” he said.

Furthermore, he said he rejected the Port of Hueneme as Dole’s primary port because it lacked adequate roads and the customs services of an official port of entry. Dole, which had $3.3 billion in sales last year, now ships most of its produce through Los Angeles.

The Port of Hueneme recently won official port of entry status, and port director Anthony J. Taormina said he cornered Murdock at Thursday’s meeting to try to woo some of Dole’s business. “It could create hundreds of jobs here,” Taormina said.

“We’ve also been awarded $9 million in federal funds toward improving our roads leading to Pacific Coast Highway,” Taormina said. But, he said, the road project will cost $80 million and could take up to a decade to complete.

The theme of Thursday’s forum was “Seize the Moment--Remaining Competitive in Today’s Global Market.” And, while Murdock devoted much of his talk to extolling free trade, he also took time to promote his favorite Ventura County candidate.

“I want to welcome my good friend, Madge Schaefer,” he said, referring to the former Ventura County supervisor who is now a Republican candidate in the 37th Assembly District. Murdock praised Schaefer, saying, “She took me to Port Hueneme and all over the county trying to get Dole to locate in Ventura County.”

Schaefer said she tried without success to lure Dole to Ventura County three years ago.

“I got him to look at several sites in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, but for one reason or another he turned them all down.” She added that she felt the decisions were made for business rather than political reasons. “I really wanted those jobs for Ventura County.”

Murdock was not available for comment after his speech, but a Dole spokeswoman said she did not believe anti-business sentiment in Ventura County prompted the decision to keep Dole in Los Angeles County.

In 1990, the Ventura County grand jury investigated Murdock’s relationships with county officials regarding his Lake Sherwood development. The jury said it found no evidence of wrongdoing on Murdock’s part, but recommended creation of an ethics panel to establish guidelines for such relationships.