State May Fund Move of School : Education: Oxnard High would be relocated outside the city limits and away from an airport flight path.

State officials tentatively agreed on Wednesday to allocate $33 million to move Oxnard High School from the flight path of Oxnard Airport to a controversial site just outside the city’s limits.

But the state Allocation Board decided it will not release the money until its staff has reviewed development costs, which have grown slightly higher than originally projected, said Diane Kirkham, a board member and aide to state Supt. of Instruction Bill Honig.

Kirkham said the board does not expect any problems and just wants to confirm the costs estimated by the Oxnard Union High School District. She said she did not know how long it will take to complete the financial study.

The money for relocating the high school will come from revenue generated by Proposition 152, a $1.9-billion statewide bond measure approved by voters in June.

Oxnard school officials said they were pleased with the board’s action and do not expect it will hinder district plans to begin construction of the new Oxnard High School campus by the end of the year, with the opening expected in the fall of 1994.

“I’m tickled to death,” said Bedford Pinkard, a school board member. “I see nothing stopping the district from going ahead with its plans.”

But the district still faces strong opposition in the community over its plans to move Oxnard High from its present site at 5th Street and Hobson Way to a 50-acre site near Gonzales and Patterson roads, just outside the northwest boundary of the city.

The district has wanted to move the school since 1990, when state officials declared its current location unsafe because of its proximity to Oxnard Airport.

However, the 12,000-student district, which operates six high school campuses in Oxnard and Camarillo, has been immersed in controversy over where the school should be moved.

Oxnard elementary school officials and community activists jammed a public meeting at City Hall Tuesday night to criticize school officials for wanting to build on farmland outside the city boundaries. High school officials are asking the city to extend water and emergency services to the site, now owned by Coastal Ranch Properties and Maland Enterprises of Somis.

Critics said they would prefer that the school be moved to a location at the northeast end of the city, on land that the district is already in the process of acquiring for a seventh campus.

They said the 50-acre parcel is more suitable because it is located within city boundaries, just south of Gonzales Road between Oxnard Boulevard and Rose Avenue.

Although the high school district has committed $9 million to purchase the land, its plans to build a seventh campus have been stalled since April, when voters rejected a local school bond measure that is needed to finance its construction.

Norman Brekke, superintendent of the elementary district, said he fears that building a new high school northwest of the city will open up the farmland to new residential development and swamp his elementary schools with more pupils.

“If the replacement high school is built on the northwest site, there is going to be a tremendous amount of pressure on the city” to permit growth in the agricultural greenbelt, Brekke said. “We’re concerned that we’re going to have asphalt, concrete and houses all the way to the ocean.”

Brekke said his district, which feeds students into the high school district, cannot afford to build the schools that would be necessary to accommodate such development.

Instead, he said it makes more sense for the high school district to move Oxnard High School to the northeast site, where high school officials have already invested money to acquire the land.

But high school district officials maintain that the relocation of Oxnard High and the acquisition of a site for an expansion school are two separate issues.

Officials said the district has already invested about $1 million on architectural plans for the replacement school and cannot simply change sites. They said to do this could possibly jeopardize funding for the project.

“Whatever we receive for the relocation of Oxnard High School can only be used for the northwest site,” said Gary Davis, assistant superintendent of educational services.

Davis rejected the argument that the school would promote more development. He said it would be up to the city to decide whether more growth would be allowed to occur in the area.

“Putting a high school there would not in and of itself cause more growth,” he said.

Pinkard agreed, and pointed out that many of the speakers at Tuesday night’s meeting supported the district’s relocation plans.

“I just can’t see how this is going to induce growth,” he said. “The City Council has the final say.”

Supt. Bill Studt and Business Manager Bob Brown were in Sacramento Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the Oxnard City Council postponed a decision on whether to extend water, sewer and emergency services to the proposed Oxnard High School relocation site.

City Councilman Michael Plisky asked city staff to gather more information about the planning issues involved with the district’s proposal. Plisky also directed the staff to consult with state officials to determine whether moving Oxnard High to an alternative site would halt state financing for the project.

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.

Relocating Oxnard High School The Oxnard Union High School District plans to move Oxnard High from its present site, which is considered unsafe because of its proximity to Oxnard Airport. But some oppose the proposed relocation site because they fear it will create more developement in an area now reserved for agriculture only. They recommend an alternative site at the northeast end of the city.