PORT HUENEME : Groups Bolster Fight Against RV Resort

Opponents of a plan to build a beachside recreational vehicle resort in Port Hueneme are stepping up their fight, as the issue heads this week to the California Coastal Commission.

Port Hueneme Mayor Toni Young said Monday she will ask the commission at its Wednesday meeting in Los Angeles to scuttle a local coastal plan that includes the RV park site.

A lame-duck City Council backed the plan in November. But the current council, which took office Dec. 7, voted 3 to 2 to kill the project. Even so, the item remains on Wednesday’s agenda.

Young has called a special meeting of the City Council at 2:30 p.m. today to pass a resolution to give to the commission.

Meanwhile, the Surfside III Condominium Homeowners Assn. and Sierra Club on Monday amended their lawsuit aimed at barring the project, which is planned for 10 acres at the end of Ocean View Drive at Port Hueneme Beach Park.

The groups claim the previous council violated the state Coastal Act in advancing the project on Nov. 16 and failed to do a proper environmental analysis of the site.

Tom Brigham, president of the homeowners association, said the amended challenge was sought because, regardless of the coastal commission’s action, the city’s coastal plan “still has a shelf life and can be pulled out and resurrected any time if they want to”--such as if a new council is elected.

Brigham said the RV park would be an eyesore and said the city’s financial projections for it “are kind of the equivalent of if you believe in the Tooth Fairy.”

But Councilman Orvene Carpenter, who sent the commission a letter in favor of the certification, said the city has mitigated all potential environmental problems. He said the RV park will generate revenues the city desperately needs in view of massive storm damage to Port Hueneme Pier.