Firm Asks Delay in Bridge Payment

The developer of one of Camarillo’s most popular shopping centers has requested a one-year delay in paying its share of a new multimillion-dollar bridge spanning the Ventura Freeway.

Camarillo City Council members tonight are expected to approve the request by Ventura Farms, which helped construct the Camarillo Factory Stores center that opened last year.

When the company won approval for the development, it agreed to contribute more than $444,000 toward construction of the new freeway overpass at Carmen Drive.

Although the debt is now due, the company has asked to make the payment by next June. An insurance company is on the hook for the $444,400, but staff recommends approving the delay to avoid going to court.

Transportation planners in 1988 told the City Council that the Carmen Drive Bridge eventually would need to be widened. The first phase of the new four-lane bridge opened just two months ago.

To help pay for the overpass, council members assessed nearby landowners a share of the $4-million cost because they have benefited from the wider freeway crossing.

The new bridge is scheduled to be officially dedicated at a ceremony in Constitution Park on Thursday.

City planners already have designed a second phase of the Carmen Drive interchange, a project expected to cost up to $9 million. That improvement, however, is not expected to break ground for another two years.