Study Cites Impacts in Park Project

Development of a 16,000-seat amphitheater and 18-hole golf course on a county park in Camarillo would cause unavoidable impacts to traffic, noise and wildlife habitat, according to a formal environmental study released Tuesday.

The project, which could be considered by supervisors as early as July, would eliminate or disturb half of the park’s plant and wildlife habitat, trigger congested roads and traffic delays before and after concert events, and cause sound levels to exceed the county’s noise ordinance in some nearby areas, the report said.

Two years in the works, the project is proposed for the 325-acre Camarillo Regional Park, between the Santa Monica Mountain foothills and Calleguas Creek.

The project is designed as a moneymaker for the county parks department, which for years was subsidized by the county-owned Channel Islands Harbor. County supervisors last year decided to cut the 27-park system’s umbilical cord and split the parks and harbor into separate departments.

Parks officials are now considering several profit-making ventures, with the amphitheater being the most ambitious project.

The outdoor concert theater and golf course would be built and operated by private developers and bring in a projected $500,000 a year in additional revenue for the parks department, with that amount increasing over the first five years of operation.

But the county’s efforts to turn its parks into self-sustaining moneymakers do not rest well with conservationists.

“It is impossible that the county is using its natural resources for fund-raising,” said Cynthia Leake, vice president of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition. “I oppose it on general principal.”

“Is it necessary to totally destroy this one to support the other parks? The impacts are just colossal,” added Carla Bard, an analyst with the Environmental Defense Center.

Robert Amore, the county’s lease development manager overseeing the amphitheater project, said he believes the project is still viable and represents an exciting recreational prospect for local residents.

“We’re not building a fire-belching plant here,” he said. “It’s what I expected. It’s a substantial project and it covers a lot of acreage. We’ve done what we can, but the bottom line is there are impacts.”

But the expected loss of habitat and traffic congestion on two-lane Lewis Road, the main artery serving the park, would require county supervisors to approve a so-called statement of overriding consideration, finding the project’s benefits outweigh its environmental impacts.

In addition, there is no freeway offramp at Lewis Road from the Ventura Freeway. The impact report requires the developers--Avalon Productions and C.E.C Properties--to draft a traffic plan subject to approval by both the city of Camarillo and the county.

Camarillo officials said they had yet to study the report. Some, however, did express concern over traffic and noise impacts.

The report said noise levels from 20 to 30 concerts to be held between March and October would exceed county standards at several sites, including Camarillo State Hospital, which is due to be converted to a university; Casa Pacifica, a shelter for abused and neglected children; La Posada, an adult mentally ill transitional facility, and nearby farm homes.

Steve Elson, executive director of Casa Pacifica, said depending on how the stage is configured, the mountains could either amplify or absorb much of the sound.

Casa Pacifica’s neighbor, the Assn. for Retarded Citizens, is more concerned about traffic.

“Bringing cultural activities and music to the area might not be such a bad idea if there wasn’t an excessive traffic problem,” said Fred Robinson, ARC executive director. “But there’s already problems on [Lewis Road] anyway. Whether they would widen the road and enforce traffic control would be my biggest concern.”

Meanwhile, the report also said the project would cause the net loss of 43 acres of coastal sage-scrub habitat considered crucial to sensitive species and 48 acres of riparian and wetland habitat.

To minimize the loss, the report suggests a re-vegetation plan to be approved by state and federal officials at another part of the creek watershed. If no other site can be found, there is no way to compensate for the loss, the report said.

The environmental document lists several alternatives to the project, including reducing the size of the amphitheater to 8,000 seats or eliminating the theater and adding nine holes of golf. The report said a smaller amphitheater would reduce or eliminate all of the environmental problems, but may not be financially feasible to the developers, who would have trouble landing top acts.

With the park at only 325 acres, the project also would require the county to purchase another 50 acres adjacent to the park. The county has an option to buy that parcel for $150,000 from the operating engineers union, which owns the land through its trust fund, the Operating Engineers Pension Trust, Amore said.

Meanwhile, as review begins on the proposal’s environmental study, the California Coastal Conservancy continues to explore an alternative plan to preserve the park’s natural state.

The conservancy is studying whether the park’s wetland and riparian habitat could be restored and used as a natural flood-control system, which could potentially save the county about $1.4 million in post-storm cleanup expenses--more money than a golf course or amphitheater could reel in, conservancy official Peter Brand said.

Correspondent Dawn Hobbs contributed to this story.