Oxnard Assailed Over Theater Parking Plan

Some Oxnard residents and a former employee are accusing city officials of misleading the public and the City Council on the parking needs for a proposed multiplex movie theater.

The critics, including former downtown manager Peter Apanel, who was fired last fall, cite a 1988 city-sponsored study that concluded the downtown area will need at least 400 more spaces to accommodate growth. They allege that two city employees--Community Development Director Richard Maggio and downtown redevelopment planner Alex Herrera--intentionally misrepresented the parking needs to the City Council, and that the city could end up paying more money to solve the problem.

In a strongly worded March 18 letter to the city attorney and the acting city manager, Apanel alleged Maggio and Herrera had “publicly made the same fraudulent claims regarding parking requirements . . . these fraudulent claims have deliberately misrepresented the ultimate cost of this project to the city during a critical period in the negotiating process.”

Apanel filed a claim against the city Wednesday, alleging wrongful termination.

On Thursday, Maggio said he had no comment regarding Apanel’s accusation of lying to the council. Earlier, Herrera denied the charge and both men maintain there is an abundance of parking downtown.

The 1988 study by Santa Ana-based DKS Associates concluded that 477 to 609 new parking spaces would be needed to accommodate projected growth.

The $27,500 study did not include the multiplex theater, because it was not a part of the city’s plans at the time. The 12-screen theater could bring more than 2,500 people at a time to downtown Oxnard and would result in the loss of more than 100 parking spaces.

The study focused on a proposal that included construction of Heritage Square, an International Market Place, renovation of the A Street Mall and a Civic Center master plan. Heritage Square and part of the Civic Center plan have been finished.

Councilman Tom Holden said critics are jumping the gun since a parking study will be made before the council gives a final OK.

“If in fact the theater is successful and the things we are doing now are successful, the best thing that could happen is that we would need a parking structure,” he said. “It is very distorted at this point to say that downtown Oxnard needs more parking when you have parking lot after parking lot in the area.”

Theater developer Rex Swanson said he was not aware of the 1988 study but is confident the parking situation will not be a problem.

“If anybody is trying to allege that placing a theater in downtown Oxnard will generate the need for a parking structure, they are wrong,” said Swanson, who hopes to complete the theater deal by next month.

But Councilman John Zaragoza said he has several questions about the project and wants to see a copy of the study.

Mayor Manuel Lopez said city staff members in general need to improve their communication skills.

“I think that that is one way we can be manipulated,” said Lopez, who owns property downtown and cannot vote on the theater plan because of a possible conflict of interest. “In general, there is a tendency [by city staff members] not to volunteer information and we have to do better with that.”

The theater, to be built on a city-owned lot on A Street, between 4th and 5th streets, is expected to cost $8.5 million to $9.5 million and include 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

For years, Oxnard’s downtown has suffered from a lack of business.

For the most part, residents and business owners support the revitalization plan. Many, however, were angered by the Plaza Park renovation, which bulldozed more than a dozen trees, some 80 to 100 years old.

As a result of downtown revitalization plans such as the theater and the Plaza Park renovation, some angry residents have formed the City Watch Committee to keep tabs on city projects.

“For too long the citizens of Oxnard have accepted the lies we have been told,” founder Alan Wingo said. “We don’t know who we can trust any more.”

Theater plans have been slow to get off the ground, with city officials saying last fall that construction would begin by January and be completed by July.

The 1988 study details the exact number of parking spaces available from 2nd Street to the north, Wooley Road to the south, C Street to the west and Meta Street to the east. According to the study, there were 5,570 total spaces available.

Apanel maintains the need for more parking will be evident once the theater is built, then the city, he says, will be pressured to invest more money for a parking structure. A parking structure could cost about $10 million, according to developers.

When presenting their case to the council last fall and in interviews, Herrera and Maggio cited the 1988 study as evidence that enough parking spaces exist for a theater project. Both men said there are at least 2,400 spaces within a five-minute walk of the site.

But many of those parking spaces are two or three blocks from the proposed theater site. Part of the theater plan includes enhanced lighting and security for patrons walking a block or more.

The 1988 study recommended that spaces be available no more than one block from downtown. On theater projects, developers usually like to have readily available parking nearby, said Bill Dvorak, of DKS Associates.

“It is usually not OK with the theater developer. They usually want the spaces closer,” Dvorak said. “It is probably something the city staff should look at before they build [a theater]. It just makes planning sense.”