Ventura Bolsters Funds for Stadium Study

The Ventura City Council decided Monday to spend an additional $25,000 to study whether the proposed Centerplex baseball stadium and sports complex would be a good deal for the city.

The seven-member council voted 3 to 2 to increase the consulting contract to a maximum of $50,000. Earlier, the council had agreed to spend only $25,000 to study whether the city’s contribution to the project would be a sound investment.

Councilmen Steve Bennett and Gary Tuttle voted against the proposal, criticizing the developer for failing to work with city officials in a timely manner and forcing them to spend more money.

“Centerplex is chewing up everybody’s time and they are not following the council’s direction,” Bennett said.

Tuttle criticized the project for being ill-defined in its scope and said he could not support spending any more money studying it.

“I don’t know if I am for or against the project because I don’t know what the project is,” he said. “I am not going to support that [project] until they get their act together.”

Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures abstained from the vote. Mayor Jack Tingstrom was absent due to a heart condition that led to his hospitalization Sunday.

Last year, the city hired Economic & Planning Systems--the same firm that conducted financial studies for the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall--to prepare a market feasibility study for the proposed Centerplex project. The project is planned for a plot of farmland behind the Ventura Auto Center.

The Centerplex project, which is expected to come before the council for consideration this summer, would include a minor league baseball stadium, retail shops and possibly an aquatic stadium.