OXNARD : Council Approves Park Site Purchase

The Oxnard City Council agreed Tuesday to take advantage of an option agreement it negotiated earlier this year to secure a public park in an area scheduled for development of hundreds of homes and businesses.

With little discussion, the council authorized the expenditure of $780,000 from its general fund reserves to pay for the six-acre site east of Rose Avenue between Gonzales Road and Camino de la Raza in the city’s Northeast Specific Plan Area.

The money is scheduled to be repaid as required by state law, but not until houses scheduled to be built in the area generate the funds.

“We’re buying it, but it will ultimately be paid for through the Quimby (Act) funds as development occurs,” Councilman Michael Plisky said before Tuesday’s meeting.

“We’re authorizing everything, but we’re not going to physically go ahead (with the park) until that specific plan is approved and the development starts,” Plisky said. “If we don’t approve a plan, we don’t have a park.”

The agreement calls for the park to be built next to an elementary school, according to City Manager Thomas Frutchey.

In his report to the council, Frutchey said three separate appraisals were performed on the park site before he recommended that the city agree to buy the land for $780,000.

The purchase, which reduces the city’s reserve balance to a little more than $7.5 million, includes an extra acre of land for property easements and infrastructure improvements.