Concerns Loom for Fans of Planned Ballpark : Policy: Cities will vote on Ventura location for minor league stadium. Neither teamwork nor reliable funding is assured.

The issue looks beguilingly simple: Should a minor league baseball stadium be built on 35 acres in east Ventura?

But behind the question facing the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo city councils this week lie pressing concerns.

With budgets tight in all three cities, leaders must decide where to find the money to pay the $15-million construction bill.

Even if they can come up with the funds, Camarillo and Oxnard officials must swallow their parochial pride and agree to pay for a major tourist draw in someone else’s city. Longstanding inter-city rivalries could topple the rare cooperative spirit of the project.

Some city leaders already say they are reluctant to invest in a project outside their boundaries.

“That’s fine. That’s Ventura’s business,” Camarillo Councilwoman Charlotte Craven said. “I’m not interested in putting any of Camarillo’s money into it. I don’t see any benefit to the city of Camarillo in this.”

The drive to construct a stadium began in the spring when the president of the California League promised to deliver a Class A team to Ventura County if the cities built a ballpark for the team to play in. The three largest west county cities soon formed a committee and spent $85,000 to study the issue.

Since then, the committee has picked a site--a barren field near the Ventura Auto Center--and proposed a funding mechanism, a joint powers authority. To be named the Tri-Cities Sports Authority, the joint project would own and operate the 5,500-seat stadium and share all costs and profits. The stadium would be slated for a spring, 1996, opening.

But concerns remain about how each city would be able to support its share of the sports authority and whether, once built, the stadium would even cover its operating costs, much less recoup the three cities’ initial outlays.

The latest step in the process starts today, when Ventura becomes the first of the three cities to consider the site near the auto center. Votes will follow in Oxnard on Tuesday and Camarillo on Wednesday.

Ventura City Council members say they doubt that this week’s decision will prove a stumbling block for the seven-member board--if they are going to shell out for a stadium, of course, they would prefer to have it in their own city. The matter will be the subject of a work session before tonight’s council meeting.

The item is also expected to pass in Oxnard, where officials say they are not concerned about which city ultimately plays host to the facility.

“We entered into these discussions with an agreement that we would support the stadium in whatever city was chosen,” Councilman Andres Herrera said. “I don’t think we have a problem there.”

But some Camarillo council members are balking at the prospect of forking over millions of dollars for a stadium two cities away.

“I’m very interested in a minor league baseball team--if it is in Camarillo,” Councilman Mike Morgan said. “That would be fun.”

Morgan pointed out that there is a site available in Camarillo, 25 acres of vacant land south of the Ventura Freeway near Camarillo Airport. A committee of staff and council members from the three cities evaluated that land along with three other parcels before deciding to rank it as the second-best ballpark site, just behind the Ventura location.

Morgan believes that they made a mistake.

“You have overcast weather in Ventura a lot of the time,” he said. “If you’re looking for success, why would you build this close to the ocean?”

Camarillo has a better climate, is more centrally located and is far enough away from the Ventura County Fairgrounds that a stadium would not compete with it for concert bookings, he said.

“I don’t want to do something that’s going to lose people’s tax dollars,” he said.

Sour grapes, Ventura Councilman Jim Monahan responded.

“I’m sure I would feel the same way if I were him,” Monahan said. “But we agreed to enter into this together, and I hope if Ventura had been the loser, we would still be a participant” in the project.

If one of the cities were to back away from the project, whether because of parochial rivalries or financial concerns, the stadium would quickly become a much less attractive proposition, city leaders say.

“That makes it a different project,” Ventura Councilman Gregory L. Carson said. “I’m more hesitant about doing this if someone drops out.”

For each city, money is a major worry.

Under the present proposal, the new joint powers authority would issue bonds for construction. The cities would pay the interest for the long-term borrowing.

There are funds available to pay off the bonds in Ventura, if the council chooses to use them. The city has $9.5 million that it raised nearly 10 years ago to pay for a convention center that was never built.

Many groups around town would claim those funds for their own pet projects--a new library, a regional park, a marine educational and entertainment center or improvements to the city’s downtown. But, ultimately, the money is to be used at the council’s discretion, to spend or save as it sees fit.

Council members say a stadium seems like a viable option.

“I’m coming around to it,” Carson said. “I probably was originally pushing for the marine center. But, basically, I’m looking to see what is best for this city’s tourism industry.”

Oxnard, however, cannot fall back on a large savings account, and some council members say the city will need to locate private money to swing its share of the funding.

“I can see some matching funds,” Councilman Bedford Pinkard said, “but I don’t see Oxnard putting up a lot of money.”

Camarillo officials say they can also ill afford to pay one-third of the construction costs.

“If the city thinks it has $5 million to spend on something, then let’s talk about libraries or streets,” Craven said. “Things like this should be done with private money.”

It is comments like this that leave Ventura Councilman Gary Tuttle with worries--lots of them.

“What questions do I have? Well, for one . . . what happens if we don’t get a team out there?” Tuttle asked. “And Camarillo and Oxnard--I’d like to see their vote first, before we take ours. I’d be real concerned if we put our money in and another city balks along the line and leaves us hanging. Oh, and how will the ongoing maintenance costs add to our General Fund expenses?”

He paused to take a breath. This is why even a simple vote like the one he faces today causes him concern.

“I don’t see how I can have an opinion,” he said, “until I see the answer to these questions.”

Times staff writer Miguel Bustillo contributed to this story.