Ventura Wins 1 Battle in Mall War With Oxnard

The city of Ventura claimed a small victory in its long-standing legal battle with the city of Oxnard on Tuesday when a retired judge ruled Oxnard had no grounds to challenge a financing plan negotiated for expansion of Buenaventura Mall.

Ventura officials hailed the decision as a sign that they will eventually prevail in a series of lawsuits between the cities.

“Bad day for Oxnard,” a smiling Ventura City Atty. Pete Bulens said. “It certainly, at least from my perspective, sets a tenor for the future.”

But Oxnard officials criticized the judge’s ruling and declared that while they may have lost the first skirmish, the war is far from over.

“Clearly the city of Ventura won these motions,” said R. Bruce Tepper, one of the attorneys representing Oxnard. “In the cosmic scheme of lawsuits this is the first round. There is a long way to go and the great part about this is, he who wins last wins.”

Companion lawsuits will still go forward for trial in February, more than a year after the Ventura City Council granted final approval to the Buenaventura Mall expansion, a $50-million project.

The expansion would add two department stores and a second level of shops, making the 31-year-old shopping center the largest in Ventura County. The two department stores--Sears and Robinsons-May--are moving from Oxnard’s Esplanade mall.

Buenaventura developers had hoped to begin the first phase of construction this year, though a March ballot measure, subsequent referendum and the lawsuits have delayed construction.

Ventura leaders are desperate to upgrade the aging mall because it has lost tenants, shoppers and consequently has reduced a vital source of sales tax revenue used to pay for public services such as police and firefighters.

But Oxnard leaders say the expansion will strip The Esplanade of its two department stores and result in a sharp decline in sales tax revenue for their city.

To stop that from happening, Oxnard and a handful of other opponents filed lawsuits challenging the project on two fronts: One attacks the project’s finances and business arrangements, the other challenges its environmental impact report.

The financial challenge received a setback Tuesday when retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge J. Kimball Walker told Oxnard’s attorneys that their argument on the economic impacts had no merit.

Walker ruled that Oxnard faces no direct impact from the planned expansion of Buenaventura Mall and therefore has no ground to file a lawsuit, Bulens said.

“[The court] said the statute requires there to be a direct relationship and there isn’t one,” Bulens said. “Consequently, you can’t bring a lawsuit. The judge threw Oxnard out of the court.”

But Tepper said the judge’s ruling was wrong. He said the city of Oxnard would loose $750,000 in annual sales tax revenue if the two department stores relocate, which he said constitutes a direct economic impact.

“We feel that the judge’s decision was without legal precedent and unfortunate and the subject of appellate relief,” Tepper said.

Oxnard City Manager Tom Frutchey said an appeal is very likely. “We do believe the judge is in error,” Frutchey said. “We do believe we have a good case.”

Although other lawsuits are still pending in the legal squabble between the two cities--who have long fought over sales tax revenue--the “validation” lawsuit discussed Tuesday was significant because it focuses on the financial impacts of the project and the financing plan negotiated by the city of Ventura and mall developers.

That financing plan has previously been attacked in two unsuccessful ballot measures: a March initiative backed by owners of the rival Esplanade mall and earlier this year a referendum aimed at overturning the council’s approval of the project.

So far, the lawsuits have cost Ventura between $75,000 and $100,000, Bulens said. Those amounts are expected to increase as a Feb. 10 trial on the other legal issues approaches. Frutchey said he did not know how much the lawsuits have cost Oxnard.

Given the escalating costs and ill feelings between the neighboring cities, Bulens said he hopes Oxnard city leaders will rethink taking legal action.

But Frutchey said city leaders have made a commitment to protect their sales tax revenue. He said there was nothing to rethink.

“Essentially what is happening,” he said, “is that Ventura is taking three-fourths of the sales tax revenue from our mall.”