VENTURA : Loan Would Target Use of Navy Airfield

Ventura is willing to contribute $20,000 toward an effort to bring commercial flights to the airfield at Point Mugu Navy base, the City Council has agreed.

The money will allow Ventura to join a joint powers authority created to manage the joint military and civilian use of the airfield. The contribution, officials say, is a loan from the city’s reserves, which will be paid back with interest within five years.

Other government bodies asked to join the authority include Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme, the County of Ventura and the Oxnard Harbor District.

Ventura will not lend the money unless at least five of the seven entities also join the authority, officials say.

Consultants’ reports, prepared to determine how profitable civilian use of the airfield could be, vary widely. One study released in September said the airfield would handle 2.5 million commercial passengers annually by the year 2010. Another report that came out in November, however, estimated that only 500,000 to 1.5 million commercial passengers would use the airfield each year.