OXNARD : District Condemns Land for School Site

The board of the Oxnard Union High School District has voted to condemn 50 acres of agricultural land northwest of the city limits for a new high school.

The board voted 4 to 0 Monday to approve condemnation of the lemon orchard southeast of the Gonzales Road and Victoria Avenue intersection, school officials said. Board member Janet Lindgren was absent.

The site, owned by Coastal Ranch Properties and Maland Enterprises of Somis, will be used to relocate Oxnard High School, officials said.

The school district has been planning to move the school since 1990, when state officials declared its present site unsafe because of its proximity to Oxnard Airport. The school, at 5th Street and Hobson Way, is about 1,800 feet from the airport runway.

It will be up to a Superior Court judge to decide how much the school district should pay for the land, said district Business Manager Bob Brown. It was not clear when that would occur, but an attorney for the school district said the judge will have up to one year to set a price for the land.

However, Brown said the district hopes to open the new high school in September, 1994.

Voter approval last month of Proposition 152, a statewide bond measure, assures that the district will receive more than $20 million in state funds for construction of the new school. The district has already received and spent about $1 million on architectural plans for the school.

Gary Stenshol, an official with Ag Land Services, which manages the school site property, said the owners do not plan to contest the school board’s condemnation action.

“We are sympathetic to their problem,” he said. “We are willing to cooperate to the best of our ability. All we are looking for is a fair price.”