Oxnard Council OKs Start of 5th Redevelopment Area : Government: City’s newest zone would extend from Hueneme Road north to the Oxnard Town Center, Financial Center and Wagon Wheel developments.

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday agreed to begin work on the city’s fifth redevelopment area, a sprawling district that officials say would generate more than $360 million in tax revenue over the next four decades.

Council members unanimously voted to spend $20,000 to implement the first phase of a four-part plan to revitalize Oxnard’s main thoroughfare by creating a redevelopment zone along the length of Saviers Road and Oxnard Boulevard.

Once established, the city’s newest redevelopment area will extend from Hueneme Road north to the Oxnard Town Center, Financial Center and Wagon Wheel developments. It would also run west along 5th Street to include the neighborhood near Oxnard Airport.

Other areas--such as Lemonwood, La Colonia and the unincorporated community of El Rio--will be invited to join the redevelopment districts if residents in those neighborhoods agree.

“Because of the blight that exists, we don’t have the resources to deal with it,” Councilman Michael A. Plisky said. “A lot of these areas will never fully develop unless we make some investment there.”

The $20,000 approved Tuesday will fund the first phase of the plan--preparing surveys, defining boundaries, notifying landowners and conducting informational neighborhood meetings.

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But it will take at least two years of planning, meetings and environmental assessments before the council can officially establish the new redevelopment area, said Vernon G. Hazen, the former city manager who was kept on the city payroll specifically to study the proposal.

Also, Hazen said, new provisions in state law mandate that 20% of the tax increment funds--property taxes paid on improvements inside the area--be divided among local jurisdictions such as school districts and water agencies.

State law already requires that 20% of the tax-increment funds be set aside for low-income housing.

Hazen said the new redevelopment area would generate more than $170 million each for low-income housing and local districts over the next 40 years.

A similar redevelopment plan reviewed by the council 18 months ago was shouted down by residents fearful that the city would declare their property blighted and order it demolished or sold.

But most of those attending Tuesday’s council meeting supported the latest plan, which allows residents to choose whether to join the district and guarantees that the city will not take property through condemnation.

“We’re coming into the year 2000, and that neighborhood is nearly 100 years old,” said Carlos Aguilera, a member of La Colonia Neighborhood Council. “Redevelopment is going to be an opportunity for all of us.”

But some residents warned that Aguilera does not represent the entire La Colonia community and urged city officials to seek out the opinions of as many residents as possible. Others chastised planners for recommending that areas outside the city, such as El Rio and Nyeland Acres, be invited to join.

“It’s very premature to include the unincorporated areas when you have no jurisdiction whatsoever,” said Florence B. Young of the El Rio/Del Norte Municipal Advisory Committee.

According to council members, however, the plan merely offers communities, inside or outside the city, the opportunity to join the new district.

The redevelopment plan “makes the residents part of the process,” Councilman Thomas E. Holden said. “This thing will not work if we force it on people. It will only work if people choose it.”

The Oxnard Redevelopment Agency has already established four redevelopment areas, consisting of two downtown districts and projects in the Southwinds and Ormond Beach neighborhoods in south Oxnard.

The new district would significantly increase the city’s obligation to provide affordable housing. The Redevelopment Agency was sued earlier this year for failing to set aside money for affordable housing, as required by state law.

“To me, that is one of the downsides in an expanded redevelopment area because we have to commit to doing something I think we’re overcommitted to right now,” Plisky said in an interview before Tuesday’s meeting. “I’m not opposed to taking on affordable housing projects, but we have to look to maintain a balance of housing in the city.”