Oxnard to Look Into Further Redevelopment : Planning: Amid objections to taking on another project, City Council members advise staffers to consult with residents.

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday agreed to consider targeting blighted or unproductive areas for city-financed redevelopment, but called for community involvement to avoid redevelopment mistakes of the past.

The council asked the city staff to investigate several new redevelopment areas, including converting the old Oxnard High School site into a park, refurbishing the Community Center and redeveloping the Wagon Wheel area.

City leaders are interested in pursuing a redevelopment project because, in addition to giving a run-down area a needed face lift, it could significantly increase the city’s property tax revenues.

Even though the plan is in its infancy, residents told the council they opposed the idea of the city taking on another redevelopment project.

“The track record for redevelopment in Oxnard is not a good one,” said Carlos Aguilera, president of La Colonia Neighborhood Council. “Redevelopment has a role to play where it could make improvements. What we don’t want is for it to become an attempt to raid resources from the poor.”

Council members said they did not want to repeat past mistakes, advising city staff to consult heavily with Oxnard residents.

“We’re already facing heavy opposition and we just introduced the idea,” Councilman Tom Holden said. “Without our vision being consistent with the community’s, we have no project.” City Manager Vernon Hazen said he planned to meet with all of the city’s neighborhood councils, as well as other civic groups, to collect their opinions. Hazen said he would return to the council with more concrete suggestions in two to three months.

“Redevelopment still carries with it misunderstandings and myths,” Hazen said. “Those need to be explained and dispelled.”

Community fears are based on several incidents in which the city’s redevelopment plans were unsuccessful. In one instance, Oxnard’s redevelopment agency blocked off a section of A Street to turn it into a pedestrian mall.

Instead of drawing business to the area, it choked off traffic from the downtown area, and the agency was forced to reverse its plans and reopen the street decades later.

“You’re going to be called on to correct the sins of the past,” downtown property owner Tila Estrada said.

If a new project area is created, it could raise between $875 million and $1.5 billion in additional property taxes over the next 40 years, Hazen said.

That would mean an annual revenue stream of between $20 million and $40 million that could be used for improvements within the project area.

But the project remains undefined. No neighborhood has been specifically included or excluded, according to city planner Matt Winegar.

“If we move forward,” Mayor Manuel Lopez cautioned, “it does not mean we’re approving anything.”

Hazen said the council’s instruction means that they simply want to explore further the feasibility of a new redevelopment project area.

“It takes a long time for redevelopment to work,” he said. “But in the long run, everybody is a winner, including the city’s general fund.”