Suns Closer to Calling Oxnard College Home

The Pacific Suns baseball team has inched closer to its goal of making Oxnard College its 1998 home field, with Ventura County Community College District trustees saying they favor letting the minor league team use the campus ballpark.

But taking a cautious approach, trustees said they will not grant formal approval until a city environmental report is finished.

The trustees’ decision late Tuesday night to postpone a final vote means that they will not sign off on the deal before early January, when the city’s examination of possible noise, traffic and other problems is to be completed. That is much later than the Nov. 21 deadline the Portland, Ore.-based Western Baseball League has set for its nine teams to have lined up home fields for 1998.

League officials, however, said Wednesday that the tentative support from the college district is a positive sign for the ball club. Last year, the league ordered the Suns to sit out the 1997 season because they moved from Palm Springs in late fall and did not win approval from the city and college district in time.

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Now that the team management has spent a year in Oxnard and appears to have strong support from community leaders and fans, league officials said they are more willing to give the Suns extra time to finalize playing field arrangements.

“We have a couple teams in the throes of new leases,” said league President Bruce L. Engel. “It’s not that unusual.”

At the Nov. 21 meeting, league officials are likely to grant the Suns an extension to close the deal with Oxnard College or give them a conditional approval to play next year, he said.

By a 4-1 vote, trustees decided to send a letter to Oxnard officials saying that the district wants to continue negotiations to host the Suns in 1998 but will make a commitment only after the environmental study is done. Trustees Allan Jacobs, Norman Nagel, Pete Tafoya and Robert Gonzales voted their tentative support, while board President John Tallman was opposed.

Most board members said they favor having the Suns in Oxnard but want to make sure neighborhood concerns about rowdy fans, bright lights and traffic jams are studied closely.

Tafoya said he has been torn between neighbors who fear raucous, sleepless nights and baseball fans who cannot wait for the first pitch. But most people want to see the Suns play, he said, and he will support them.

“There is a need and loyalty to the general citizenry of Ventura County,” Tafoya said, adding that he had been bombarded by faxes and letters supporting the team. “Obviously, the citizenry of Ventura County has spoken.”

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Suns owner Don DiCarlo carried a 2-foot-high stack of letters bound by thick rope into the meeting Tuesday night.

Throughout the meeting, team officials boasted of the charitable work they have done in Ventura County. After the vote, DiCarlo said he considered the board vote scheduled for January a mere formality and added that the team has already set its sights on next season.

“My lord, we’ve given our lives to Oxnard,” DiCarlo said.

The board’s decision comes one week after the Oxnard City Council approved licensing agreements aimed at letting the Suns play at Oxnard College. Under the arrangement, the college district will let the city lease the field to the Suns through next September. Team officials would have the option to renew the agreement for another year, but have said they want to build a stadium in Ventura County and will play only one season at the college.

In recent weeks, residents who live near Oxnard College have voiced concerns about fan noise, lights and traffic jams that could occur during the team’s 45-game home schedule.

And although a large majority of the nearly three dozen residents who spoke on the issue at Tuesday’s college district meeting--many wearing Suns caps and jerseys--supported the team, a college district survey has found that neighbors of the ball field are deeply divided on the issue.

The survey, done by college researchers through door-to-door and telephone interviews last week, found that 42% favor having the Suns play at the college, 38% oppose it, and 15% are undecided. Moreover, 53% said they had concerns about noise, and 54% have concerns about traffic. Researchers talked to 168 residents in three mobile-home parks and a town-home complex.

David Fainer, a Santa Barbara attorney who represents the Country Club Mobile Estates on Olds Road, has warned City Council members and college district trustees that they could run afoul of state law if they approve the lease arrangement before the city’s environmental study is completed. Tuesday night, Fainer praised trustees for taking their time and criticized council members, who unanimously approved the arrangement.

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“Our concern is that the [state environmental review] process is followed,” Fainer said. “We applaud the college district for following this path, as opposed to what happened” with the City Council.

In a meeting this past weekend, DiCarlo and Fainer reached an agreement stipulating that the team will refrain from playing amplified music through loud speakers; provide extra security to make sure no fans cause trouble in nearby neighborhoods, and try to get the city to declare Olds Road a no-parking zone for fans.

Meanwhile, city officials say that their study, which assumes that games will attract about 2,500 fans, is not expected to uncover any major problems. That is why they are conducting a scaled-back “mitigated negative declaration,” as opposed to a full environmental impact report. They expect the report to be released Dec. 8, followed by a 30-day public review period.

With no games--or ticket revenues--in 1997, DiCarlo said the team has posted a $200,000 loss in the past year. The team must also pay the city of Palm Springs $28,000 in delinquent game and concession fees. DiCarlo and team officials said they are in negotiations to clear that debt, and league officials say they are satisfied with the agreement between the team and city.

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Meanwhile, Cambria-based Spencer Construction has filed a $78,284.39 lien against DiCarlo, alleging the team did not pay for a site survey and design plans drawn up for the Oxnard College field.

“We did the work, he took the work and has no intention of paying,” said Larry Spencer, who filed the lien.

DiCarlo, meanwhile, said he has never heard of Spencer Construction and that the company has not responded to his inquiries into the lien. Oxnard officials said the licensing agreement with the Suns indemnifies the city from the lien.

DiCarlo said the team is focusing on finding a developer to build a stadium for the Suns in Ventura County. He added that Oxnard was his first choice for a site, but the team will go elsewhere if stadium plans in Oxnard fall through.

After numerous public negotiations to use the Oxnard College baseball field, DiCarlo vowed to build a stadium using only the money of private investors.

“I’ve had enough of municipalities,” he said.