Hearing Delayed on Complex’s Expansion

A hearing on expansion of a Rose Avenue retail complex has again been delayed after Oxnard City Council members said they needed to solve traffic problems before reviewing the project.

At the developer’s request, the council agreed early Wednesday to postpone the hearing until June 11, when city officials should know whether anyone opposes plans to set up a special assessment district in the area. The city earlier this month took the first step in setting up the district, which will help pay to build a six-lane bridge over the Ventura Freeway.

Santa Monica-based developer Stanley Rothbart wants to add 120,000 square feet of stores at Shopping at the Rose II, which now features a Best Buy electronics store.

But the Rio School District and Oxnard City Manager Tom Frutchey appealed a decision by Oxnard’s Land Use Advisors panel earlier this year to allow the project to go forward, saying the city first needed to find a way to replace the existing two-lane bridge.

The city was set Tuesday night to decide whether to uphold that appeal.

Rothbart said early Wednesday that the delay may mean that Office Max Inc. will have to scrub its plans to build a 23,000-square-foot office supply store in the proposed complex.

But echoing the comments of other City Council members, Andres Herrera said the city first needed to make sure that the assessment district concept would fly before giving the project the go-ahead.

“I think your project can be of more value and of more service once we have proper access to it,” Herrera said, referring to the area’s traffic congestion.

Construction is not expected to begin on the bridge until March. But the assessment district, which requires property owners to contribute according to how much traffic their projects generate, could be set up by the end of July.

Rothbart said early Wednesday that he supported the assessment district concept, adding, “I am hopeful we can begin construction sometime soon.”