OXNARD : Baseball Stadium Discussion Delayed

Oxnard’s City Council postponed consideration Tuesday of a proposal by resident Stanley Moorman to build a minor league baseball stadium in the city’s downtown area.

The proposal was postponed after Councilman Manuel Lopez, who placed the proposal on the city agenda, became ill and had to leave the council meeting.

Moorman has proposed building a $6.5-million stadium at the site of an old drive-in theater at Oxnard Boulevard and Wooley Road.

He hopes to attract a minor league team for the 5,576-person stadium he has designed.

The new stadium would also host football and soccer games, as well as other community events, Moorman said. The project would include a 1920s-style ballpark with a brick facade, a clubhouse restaurant overlooking the field and 10 luxury box suites. If approved, the stadium could open as soon as 1994, he said.

“We are a hotbed for baseball; this city is the perfect place for a minor league team,” said Moorman, who heads a consortium of five local businessmen involved in the project.

However, some city officials are skeptical about the stadium’s proposed location.

“I’m concerned about parking and access, and how the stadium lights would affect the neighborhood,” Mayor Nao Takasugi said in an interview.

“I’d like to see a stadium in the periphery of the city, with freeway access so we can attract people from all over the county,” he said.