OXNARD : Panel OKs Building Machine Tool Plant

The city’s land use advisory panel has authorized the construction of a 415,000-square-foot machine tool manufacturing plant at Elevar Road and Sturgis Street in an industrial area in northeast Oxnard.

Thursday’s unanimous vote was expected because Haas Automation Inc., the company that will occupy the plant, was promised rapid consideration of the necessary permits when officials attracted the Chatsworth-based manufacturer to the city last month.

Haas has said it would employ more than 435 workers, many of them in high-paying positions with salaries in excess of $30,000 a year.

The plant “will be one of the largest employers in the city of Oxnard,” said Steve Kinney, president of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp. “The response from the city in processing their application and their plans and all the rest was very timely.”

The company is expected to break ground on the vacant 20-acre parcel in February, with completion scheduled for November and occupancy in early 1997.