Monahan Wants Voters to Decide on Proposed Stadium Plan

As dozens of people debated the merits of bringing an $18.7-million minor league ballpark to Ventura late Wednesday, Councilman Jim Monahan said for the first time that he cannot support the project unless it is approved by city voters as a ballot measure.

Monahan, a member of the slim 4-3 council majority that favors continuing talks with the stadium developer, said he might still back the project but only with voter approval of a bond package to finance it.

“I think the only way I can support it is to put it on the ballot,” Monahan said after listening to about 28 speakers at a special City Hall forum on the issue. “I want it on the ballot with a bond issue that would fund it . . . and not drain city funds.”

Monahan said he is taking this position because of what he heard from speakers Wednesday night and what he has been told in an outpouring of letters, faxes and phone calls over the past week.

Monahan’s position is significant because he represents the potential swing vote on whether the project can go forward. He has joined three other council members in extending negotiations with developer John Hofer for another month. But any deal that the city might strike would also have to be approved by voters, he said.

On Wednesday night, dozens of people, as passionately divided as their council members, debated a more basic issue--whether the proposed Class A ballpark would be a community boon or city-funded boondoggle.

“I am violently opposed to any public monies being used for Mr. Hofer’s risky venture,” said Stacy Alexander, one of almost two dozen speakers who said city money would be better spent on such basics as libraries and recreation. “If he [Hofer] says they will come, let him put up his own money.”

Under Hofer’s proposal, all of the stadium’s $18.7-million cost would be fronted by the city.

But others argued just as forcefully that Ventura needs a place to come together--a public forum for good, wholesome family entertainment.

“This can keep everyone here, rather than having them have to go to L. A. or Santa Barbara for their good times,” said Dean Lenaburg, who argued that a local stadium would bring in badly needed tax revenues in the form of bed taxes paid to hotels.

“This has too much benefit for us not to do it. Don’t let this opportunity slip away,” he pleaded.

Monahan and council members Ray Di Guilio and Rosa Lee Measures turned out to hear the testimony. They said they were there to learn. Of the speakers, 23 opposed the project and five were in favor.

Objections to the stadium ranged from fears that construction would ruin habitat of the endangered steelhead trout in the Santa Clara River to rumors that toxic waste litters adjacent land.

Proponents argued that the stadium would bring everything from increased tax revenues to an enhanced sense of community.

Wednesday night’s public hearing was only the latest round in a months-long discussion that has divided both the City Council and the community.

Under the plan, Ventura would put up $18.7 million to build the stadium. In return, Hofer would donate a 20-acre site near the Ventura Auto Mall valued at between $2 million and $5 million. He would also pay the city $300,000 for the first five years, and $330,000 for the next 15 years to lease the stadium. Hofer has also agreed to cover maintenance costs for the city--estimated to be about $600,000 annually.

Analysts say the city would lose about $700,000 a year for the next 20 years.

Council members have said they do not support the Hofer proposal as it stands. But on Monday night, the council voted 4 to 2 to have City Manager Donna Landeros continue negotiations with Hofer on behalf of the council.

Landeros told council members she thought that she could find a consensus position among the three council members on a city negotiating committee and offer Hofer the city’s concept of a good deal.

“I have a sense of what may be a workable proposal--at least one that is worthy of being brought before the council,” she said. “I don’t know what Hofer will think.”