Council Ready to OK Mall Plan, and Await a Backlash

Neighbors support the $50-million project. Eager shoppers want to see it get underway. And all seven City Council members back the plan.

So today, the council is set to give its final approval to expanding the Buenaventura Mall.

But by signing off on the deal, which mall owners have spent five years finessing, council members will open a Pandora’s box of potential lawsuits and a referendum aimed at overturning their decision.

Attorneys representing the city of Oxnard and The Esplanade shopping center have filed numerous appeals to the mall’s environmental impact report. Oxnard leaders have said they may sue if the project is approved.

They have 30 days after the council’s final vote today to file lawsuits challenging the decision. And city officials are bracing for anticipated litigation.

“I expect lawsuits on every single aspect of the arrangement,” City Atty. Pete Bulens said Friday. “They will target the EIR [environmental impact report]. They will target the development agreement . . . they will try to allege administrative procedural errors--whatever they can dream up.”

Oxnard City Councilman Dean Maulhardt said Oxnard leaders are waiting to see how the Ventura council votes before discussing any legal action.

“We will review the decision they make and we will take appropriate action,” Maulhardt said.

“We have made several comments to the appropriateness of the EIR, and the method [in which] it was brought forward,” he said. “I think they have some questions to answer as far as what the city of Oxnard has requested.”

Oxnard officials have urged Ventura’s council to deny the proposed expansion, arguing that the project would hurt Oxnard’s economy by luring away its two department stores.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Robinsons-May have agreed to leave The Esplanade in Oxnard for the improved Buenaventura Mall, which would be expanded to more than 1 million square feet.

But so far, Oxnard’s appeals have failed to sway Ventura leaders, who voted 7 to 0 to approve the expansion two weeks ago on a first reading of the development agreement.

Maulhardt acknowledged that Ventura leaders have staked out a position on the project. “I would be very surprised if they voted ‘no’ on it,” he said.

But lawsuits may be the project’s undoing.

Although the developer has promised to move ahead with some aspects of the expansion, construction would probably be held up, depending on how many and what types of lawsuits are filed, officials said.

City leaders are determined to fight any legal challenges, and mall developers have agreed to pay the bulk of any legal fees.

“We are going to fight these people all the way,” Mayor Jack Tingstrom said. “We have done our homework . . . we think it will withstand a legal challenge.”

The other hurdle Ventura officials will likely face is a referendum.

Leaders of the group that qualified a March 26 ballot initiative targeting the mall’s tax-sharing arrangement now say they will pursue a referendum to overturn the council’s decision.

After the council’s final vote, they have 30 days to collect the 6,026 signatures needed to force a July special election, which would cost the city about $85,000.

Referendum proponents say they are not opposed to the mall expansion, but to a tax rebate promised to the developer.

“I just think it is just a gross misuse of city funds,” said Ventura businessman Lary Reid, who said his group would have to hire professional signature gatherers to qualify the referendum.

Reid’s group, Citizens Against the Sales Tax Giveaway, qualified Measure S for the ballot using signature-gatherers paid for by owners of The Esplanade. Oxnard mall owners are contributing at least 80% of the group’s campaign funds.

Although the initiative was aimed at the mall’s tax-sharing deal, it will not affect the proposed expansion if the council approves the project prior to the March 26 election. A referendum, however, would put the council’s decision before the city’s voters.

“At least it would give them a chance to vote on it,” Reid said. “It is their tax money.

But city leaders say the group’s efforts are being orchestrated by a rival mall, and do not reflect the interests of the community.

“Consider the source,” Councilman Jim Friedman said. “The arguments are coming from people who have financial ties to The Esplanade. How serious can we take these arguments?

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize that The Esplanade is pulling out all the stops to defend its financial future.”