Board Paves Way for Science Facility

The Ventura fairgrounds board voted unanimously Tuesday to begin negotiations with a local architect on the conceptual design for a parking structure on the fairgrounds.

The go-ahead lays the preliminary groundwork for an ambitious $43-million aquarium/astronomy project that he wants to build on a plot of land at Surfers Point by Promenade Park.

“This will give me the blessing to go ahead and start applications with the city,” said project architect Ed Campbell.

Campbell’s exotic brainchild, dubbed Sea Star Vista, would be a mushroom-shaped architectural wonder--an imaginative structure of thick walls filled with fish, and two special theaters where viewers will be able to watch images of the universe transmitted by fiber-optic cables from some of the world’s best star-gazing spots.

A suspended walkway over Figueroa Street would join the aquarium/astronomy center and the parking garage, which would also house an education center and research lab for astronomy and marine biology, along with restaurants and gift shops. There would also be a facility to sell and repair telescopes.

For their part, fairgrounds officials are interested in the garage because it would help alleviate the parking crunch that takes place for two weeks every August during fair season. They cannot expand parking without building up.

Campbell says his next step is to negotiate air rights for the walkway, and complete city applications to move forward with the project. Campbell hopes to buy the Texaco Oil Co.-owned land for the project in December.