City Council Backs Fund-Raising Effort for Children’s Museum : Knowledge: Action supporting the project on old City Hall property comes as a surprise to proponents.

After pleading with the City Council for nearly two hours to save the city’s historic civic center for a children’s museum, proponents got a very unexpected answer.

Council members unanimously agreed early Wednesday morning to help with plans to raise funds for the project.

“If the city is serious about this center, we ought to step up to the plate. If not, it is not fair to keep these people waiting,” said City Councilman Andy Fox, referring to a group of representatives from the Ventura County Discovery Center who waited until after midnight to hear the council’s decision on the draft plan for the site.

The council members agreed to proceed with the plan that outlines possible uses for the property, ranging from corporate headquarters to hotels. But they asked the city manager to work with the group on funding--a move that came as a surprise for two reasons.

Council members have been vocal about the need to squeeze as much money as possible out of the sale of the property to make up for the cost of the new $64-million Civic Arts Plaza. And the Discovery Center group--a nonprofit organization started a year and a half ago by two mothers who wanted to create a children’s science center--does not now have the means to purchase the property, let alone pay for repairs to the deteriorating building.

“One way to look at it is to put money over community values and community benefit,” Councilwoman Elois Zeanah told the board as they deliberated shortly past midnight. “The other is to use this opportunity to maximize community benefit.”

But Carrie Glicksteen, head of fund-raising for the Discovery Center group, said helping place the center in the old City Hall building doesn’t necessarily mean the city won’t make money off the deal.

“One of our ideas is that maybe there is somebody out there who is interested in purchasing it and leasing it to us for a nominal fee,” she said.

City Manager Grant Brimhall said options could include obtaining grant money or allowing the Discovery Center to lease the existing buildings, while allowing new developments to be built on the surrounding land. Suggestions from the Discovery Center group and Councilwoman Zeanah include a small restaurant or hotel.

“We think that those things work extremely well with a museum up there,” said Elliot. Though the council gave group members approval last year to use the old buildings if they could cover the cost of repairs, their current funds fall short of the $1.5 million they estimate they need to modernize the building.

So far they have raised $25,000 from the biomedical firm Amgen Inc. and have several thousand dollars more from private donations.

“Hopefully our support will be a real impetus for increasing fund-raising efforts,” said Mayor Jaime Zukowski. “They need to do more.”

Discovery Center proponents, wearing orange badges that read VCDC 401--the group’s acronym and the numbers from the Hillcrest Drive City Hall address--presented an ambitious plan Tuesday night that would include hands-on science exhibits in the existing building and adding an IMAX theater to the site.

About 20 residents, including 15 from the Discovery Center, spoke of the need to put the education of the community’s children before profit and save the city’s historical landmarks.

“We all realize you want to profit and we can’t fault you for wanting to put money into the city’s treasury. But at least a portion of that property should go to the real treasures of this city, our kids,” Dorothy Beaubien, president of the Conejo Valley Unified School Board, told the council.

Gary Elliot, president of the Discovery Center, told the City Council that his group’s plan would meet all the requirements of the draft Specific Plan, including low-density traffic and low building heights. In addition, it would involve removing only one oak tree. The draft Specific Plan allows for the removal of 30 of the property’s 310 oaks.

“We would make the smallest footprint,” he said.

After council members voiced concern that the draft plan allows for the destruction of the existing buildings and for too much traffic, the council said the plan was ready for the next step in the approval process, an environmental impact study.

They asked that options for funding the Discovery Center be presented when the draft plan returns to the council for approval, about a year from now.