OXNARD : New Zoning Areas OKd for Churches

Churches in Oxnard will be allowed to move to areas that have for years been reserved for business and industry under an amendment to an ordinance approved by the City Council.

After a public hearing late Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to allow churches to open in business parks and light-industrial zones--areas that typically rent or sell for less than residential property.

Dozens of churchgoers attended the hearing and scores more wrote letters to the City Council supporting the proposal.

“The cost of land and building in those kinds of zones tends to be significantly less,” said Jeffrey Brown, a founding member of the Calvary Church in Oxnard, who attended the hearing.

“This provides young churches another avenue to pursue those facilities,” Brown said. “That’s one of the major hurdles for young churches--the expense of getting facilities.

“To have a blanket prohibition to having churches go into an industrial zone is inappropriate,” Brown said.

In addition to allowing churches in industrial areas, the ordinance approved late Tuesday calls for new developments to be pedestrian-friendly.

“The spacing of shops and pedestrian-scale fountains, planters and other elements should make the pedestrian want to explore by walking rather than driving to his or her next destination,” the new law says.