Controversy Flares Over Future of Old Firehouse

A controversy is smoldering here over what to do with the abandoned firehouse on Ventura Boulevard, an aging station built on land donated decades ago by the family from which this city takes its name.

Developers are anxious to convert it to an upscale shopping center. But preservationists are eager to transform it into a museum and cultural center.

It all began earlier this year when Ventura County offered to sell the structure at 2474 Ventura Blvd. to any public agency willing to take on the liability.

Within weeks, volunteers from the Pleasant Valley Historical Society approached City Hall about buying Old Fire Station No. 54--as it is known--and reselling it to the society with Camarillo taxpayers carrying the loan.

But a rival plan surfaced days later, when the owners of a nearby antique store offered to convert the building into a shopping courtyard and collectibles paseo, with a dozen vintage shops.

Now the City Council is wrestling over whether to finance a museum and community center--one of the building’s original uses--or allow retailers to open the sales-tax-generating center with 50 new jobs.

While the council directed City Manager Bill Little to launch negotiations with the county on buying the structure, heavy pressure already is being exerted on behalf of the museum idea.

“I can’t think of anything more vintage for downtown than a museum,” cultural center volunteer Adele Stuebing said. “It would go along with whatever you want to do there.”

But antique dealer Guy Maison, who has been open for business in Old Town barely six months, sees something different.

Maison said converting the firehouse to a retail center with antique and dessert shops would spur tourism and draw customers to The Boulevard, the very neighborhood targeted for redevelopment by the city.

“There’s such a thing as a human magnet,” Maison told the City Council earlier this week. “And that is what people consider a collectible item to be.

“I have customers who think nothing of driving 200 miles to buy an antique milk bottle,” he said.

Museum officials, however, point out that the firehouse was not just a fire station to Camarillo.

Even before the city incorporated, the building was home to the area’s library, dance hall, community center, courtroom and numerous other endeavors.

“It wasn’t just a firehouse,” said Rod Franz, who volunteers for the historical society. “It was the focus of the community and functioned just like today’s City Hall.”

One emotional speaker talked about checking out his first library book from the building, attending his first school dance there and celebrating his wedding reception inside those walls.

“Obviously, I have a lot of cherished memories of that building,” said Harvey Pena, who has lived in Camarillo for more than 60 years.

County fire officials are asking $250,000 for the building, which sports a roll-up garage door, spacious patio along with several broken and boarded-up windows.

Maison asks only that the city purchase the grounds and resell it to him and his partners. He said he has five or six tenants who have already committed to moving in once the $140,000 in renovations have been completed.

“The only support we want is rezoning,” Maison said. “We feel that ultimately we could have 12 shops in there.”

Museum boosters, however, counter that they are out of space at their 720 N. Las Posas Road site. A new cultural center, they say, would breathe new life into a struggling downtown, even if it’s open just four hours each weekend day.

They told council members Wednesday that it would be difficult to raise the money--more than $371,000, including interest. But they pledged to redouble fund-raising activities.

“This is not about dollars,” Planning Commissioner William Liebmann told the council. “We are dealing with the preservation of the culture of this area.”

But all that talk about downtown preservation mystifies Maison, who questions the city’s commitment to revitalizing the commercial strip along Ventura Boulevard.

“How can they say they want to restore The Boulevard and vote to put in a museum that’s only open eight hours a week?” he asked. “The attitude in this town defies definition.”