Amphitheater, Golf Course Proposed for Park

Intent on making Ventura County parks pay for themselves, officials on Wednesday showed off plans for a 16,000-seat amphitheater and an 18-hole golf course in the hills just south of the city.

The outdoor arena, the first of its kind in the county, could lure top-draw musical acts and plays to Camarillo Regional Park, which lies on about 370 acres between the state mental hospital and the Ventura Freeway.

“Once it’s in full operation, the county should receive $200,000 to $300,000 a year from the amphitheater and $300,000 a year from the golf course,” said Robert Amore, who helped negotiate leases between the project developers and Ventura County.

“These revenues should go up as the years go on,” he said.

Though the two projects would generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cash-poor county parks programs, not everyone is keen on the plan to open up dozens of acres of open space to duffers and concert goers.

Some members of the Channel Islands Condors model plane club and the Conejo Valley Archers, both groups that have practiced at Camarillo Regional Park for more than a decade, are miffed that they will have to move.

“We don’t really feel that well-treated,” said Dan Dix, treasurer of the nonprofit archery corporation that helped train Justin Huish to two gold medals in this summer’s Olympic Games.

“Everything we found out about their plans we found out by accident,” Dix said. “We’ve had to ask them for everything.”

The Ventura County Parks and Harbor Commission on Wednesday approved a five-year lease with the archery group that will see the club moved to an alternate site at Tapo Canyon Park in Simi Valley by early next year.

But members of the Channel Islands Condors were not so fortunate. Their year-to-year lease has been shortened to a month-to-month agreement.

“We’re on notice,” said John Strobel, a member of the radio-controlled airplane group who testified before the commission. “They can come down on us at any time.”

Although county parks officials have recommended two new sites for the Condors, Strobel said neither location will work. So members are tentatively planning to return to the streets to practice their hobby.

“We’ll be mavericks like we were before,” said Hugh O’Connell, the group’s treasurer. “We’ll be flying on deserted streets in industrial neighborhoods.”

County planners hope to ask the Board of Supervisors to approve use permits and environmental paperwork for the proposed recreation project as soon as December, with construction to begin in early 1997.

The amphitheater would be operated by Avalon Productions, the same Encino-based company that produces shows at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in Orange County.

Under a 50-year deal negotiated by Amore, Avalon would build the outdoor theater and Blue-T Golf of Omaha would construct the golf course. Blue-T Golf operates a similar public course in Merced County.

At the expiration of the two five-decade leases, Ventura County would own both facilities--an appealing prospect to local officials.

“When you don’t have to put out much money, you get an ongoing revenue stream and we’re not responsible for the upfront construction costs, then that’s a good deal,” Amore said. “It’s a good deal for both parties.”

Some of those who attended Wednesday’s meeting complained that an amphitheater may attract an undesirable element to Camarillo.

Chris Spangenberg, a member of the model airplane club, told the commission that the venue may host rap music shows that lure violent crowds or gang members to the arena.

“I don’t know if Camarillo really wants to have a venue three miles from town where every fan of rap music can come,” he said. “There’s a whole lifestyle that goes along with that sort of thing.”

No one at Avalon Productions would discuss the amphitheater plans Wednesday. And Blue-T Golf executives could not be reached for comment.

But parks and harbor commissioners were sympathetic to the Channel Islands Condors, who have more than 200 members throughout Southern California.

“Nothing is concrete until it’s approved,” said Virginia Davis, who chairs the panel. But she added: “I would hope somewhere down the line you will be able to find an adequate place for your group.”

The county Board of Supervisors voted in April to divide the parks and harbor departments into two agencies, in part because harbor officials complained that too much revenue from the Channel Islands Harbor was diverted to park projects.

Although the commission still oversees both agencies, separate panels will administer the two departments beginning next year.

“The parks have always had to be self-sufficient, but the problem was that they didn’t generate enough money to pay for their operations,” Amore said. “So we’ve been trying to get some of these parks to generate revenue.”