Port Hueneme OKs Blueprint for Reuse of Navy-Owned Land : Redevelopment: Task force’s report outlines possible recreational, educational and business uses for 33-acre parcel city expects to receive in a transfer next year.

It may take years, but city officials would like to see a tree-lined promenade, seaside restaurant and marine research facility on Navy-owned land the city hopes to take over in April, 1996.

The City Council voted Wednesday to pass the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory Community Reuse Plan, which outlines possibilities for the 33-acre parcel south of Silver Strand beach.

The city hopes to gain the land when the Navy moves its offices in about 53 buildings now used for engineering, testing and research to more modern facilities at the Construction Battalion Center.

The plan, prepared by a 26-member task force--representing the city, the Navy, the Oxnard Harbor District and others--divides the parcel into three strips with different uses.

The task force recommends using the northern six-acre portion for port related purposes such as loading cargo. Uses for the central portion, which encompasses several structures, include fisheries, aquaculture and marine education. And the plan for the southernmost finger of land, which runs along a seawall, calls for a promenade leading to the more than 50-year-old lighthouse.

“The idea is to use the location as kind of a natural point of visitor interest,” said Tom Figg, Port Hueneme’s director of community development. “There could be an abalone farm or a fish farm . . . that would have visitor appeal.”

Port Hueneme is still far from launching any projects for the land. A proposal to open a seaside restaurant--possibly in the lighthouse--suggests starting work on the project after 2005.

First, the Navy, Port Hueneme and the Oxnard Harbor District must decide on how the military will transfer the land to public ownership. Then Port Hueneme’s redevelopment authority and the harbor district must agree on a land-ownership plan.

The agency that acquires the property will have to find funds and tenants to make improvements to it. The plan estimates that repairing the seawall and installing a pedestrian walkway will cost more than $1.5 million. The cost of renovating a nearly 80,000-square-foot building that could be used for maritime research or education is listed at $4.7 million.

“There are a lot of repairs that need to be done,” said Port Hueneme Mayor Toni Young. “As far as immediate returns, I don’t think that there are any. What we are really hoping for are some good opportunities that, with time, will probably come about.”

As part of the land transfer, the Navy will perform environmental cleanup on the site. Navy operations have left behind various hazardous substances including paints, fuels, solvents and low-level radioisotopes.

Lt. Jim Bray said the Navy probably will complete the environmental cleanup before the land is transferred to civilian use.

A number of potential tenants approached Port Hueneme’s redevelopment authority last year about moving to the site. California State University and Oxnard College have expressed interest in developing a center that would offer marine and international trade programs. The Department of the Interior has discussed locating a research base for its Channel Islands employees on the site.

But Figg said the city of Port Hueneme and other agencies have a lot of work to do before they can start picking tenants.

“The plan doesn’t get down to specifics,” Figg said. “But it does provide a design framework, a layout of infrastructure.”