OXNARD : Nuns Seeking City OK to Build New Home

The Sister Servants of Mary are looking to build themselves a new home after winning a legal battle with the operators of the Bailard Landfill.

They will ask the Oxnard City Council on Tuesday for permission to construct a new 42,000-square-foot convent at an abandoned cul-de-sac on G Street that would include a chapel, classrooms and living quarters for about 45 nuns.

The Catholic nuns have to move from their current convent on Victoria Avenue, about 500 feet from the Bailard Landfill, after they won a $500,000 settlement with the operators of the dump.

They had complained for years that the landfill was letting off malodorous fumes and dust that was endangering their health. After Bailard’s life was extended to mid-1996, the nuns threatened to sue, and the dump’s operators agreed to pay to help the nuns relocate.

The neighborhood surrounding the proposed convent is Oxnard’s oldest, a set of turn-of-the-century residences built by the city’s founding families. Many neighbors have said they support the nuns’ plan to join their community. A few residents, however, have expressed concern over increased traffic on their streets.

The two-story convent, which has already been approved by Oxnard’s planning panel, would feature a Spanish-Mediterranean motif. Nine single-family residences would also be built on the 4.6-acre site.