Grading May Start on Outlet Mall After Lawsuit Is Settled

Grading work on the long-awaited Camarillo factory outlet project may start as early as this week following an out-of-court settlement between the mall’s developer and an Oxnard business park owner, officials said.

The mall’s developer, Chelsea GCA Realty of Newport Beach, has agreed to pay Stephen Maulhardt $150,000 to drop a lawsuit--his second against the project in two years. The suits charged that the city had not required an adequate environmental review and that the project’s traffic plan was faulty.

As part of the settlement, Maulhardt, along with co-plaintiff and Camarillo resident Richard Lundberg, agreed to drop all actions against the project.

Neither Maulhardt nor representatives of Chelsea GCA could be reached for comment Tuesday, but Camarillo City Manager Bill Little said the city is relieved that the legal conflict is over.

“This agreement allows the developer to get the project back on line,” Little said. “And the sooner he does that, the sooner we will start seeing sales tax revenues come to the city.”

Little said the factory outlet mall--the county’s second behind the one recently opened in Oxnard--will generate an estimated $350,000 to $400,000 annually for the city.

The settlement also allows the city to seek to overturn a 1993 Superior Court ruling that invalidated an agreement between the city and Chelsea. The court ruled that the deal, which rebated part of the mall’s sales taxes to Chelsea, amounted to a gift of public funds.

The tax rebate sparked Maulhardt’s first lawsuit in October, 1992. Little said that if the city is successful in overturning the ruling, officials could then strike a similar deal with Chelsea and do the same with other developers.

The 21-acre site is south of Ventura Boulevard between Carmen Drive and Las Posas Road. Edwards Theaters is already building a 12-screen cinema adjacent to it.