CAMARILLO : Council to Consider Outlet Mall Subsidy

A Los Angeles developer wants the city of Camarillo to help offset the costs of building a factory outlet mall by sacrificing a portion of future city tax revenues.

The Camarillo City Council will consider The Koll Co.’s request tonight. The council meeting starts at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

Koll wants the city to rebate either 50% of future sales taxes generated by a proposed factory outlet mall, or 50% of the developer’s annual assessment on the property that pays for water and sewer connections to the property. The rebate would continue until 2014.

In a memo to the council, City Manager J. William Little said the city must evaluate its development policies in light of the poor economic conditions in Southern California.

“The need for an expanded job base in our city as well as recent and possibly future state budget impacts requires the city to seriously evaluate such requests,” Little said.

Peter Tilton, development manager for Koll, said the proposal could help Camarillo win a “foot race” against Oxnard, which is also considering a similar outlet mall.

“Companies have come to us and said, ‘Hey, we can’t afford to pay this tax here,’ ” he said, referring to potential businesses in the mall. “That’s how we’ve lost other clients in the past.”

Developers agree that the region can only support one outlet mall.

Koll has proposed building a 250,000-square-foot mall south of the Ventura Freeway near Carmen Drive, the first phase of which is slated for completion by fall, 1993. Koll officials estimate that the first phase will generate $375,000 a year in sales tax revenues.

In Oxnard, Buck Building Co. has proposed building a 280-square-foot mall south of Ventura Freeway near Rice Avenue, Tilton said.

“It really comes down to which city is going to help their developer perform,” said the Koll Co.’s Tilton. “If they help us move ahead, we (can) beat Oxnard to the punch.”