Schillo Seeks Services Center for Oak Park

Like many local officials, Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council member Todd Haines wants a meeting place for the unincorporated community. But he would rather it not be called city hall.

“We’re not a city,” he said. “And I don’t want us to become one.”

Whatever the name, a city hall of sorts would be created under a proposal by Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo. He is seeking grant funding to expand the county fire substation on Deerhill Road, transforming it into a municipal services building.

Although the cost and size of the expansion are not known, Schillo and other officials believe the building will open a year from now.

It would house the fire and sheriff’s departments as well as offices for the ambulance company that serves the area and the local water and sanitation districts, Schillo said.

A community building would provide better protection for the community of 15,000 residents because public safety vehicles would be centrally located and would never have to leave the area, he said.

“The ambulance could leave at the same time as the firetruck and arrive at the same time,” Schillo said.

The American Medical Response ambulance crew currently operates out of an apartment at Kanan and Lindero Canyon roads.

Also, sheriff’s deputies and the California Highway Patrol--which could use the facility--would not have to retreat to their respective stations in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark at the end of each shift, leaving Oak Park unattended, Schillo said.

Schillo said he also wants to include in the proposal a 1,200-square-foot room for meetings of the advisory committee, which represents the community to county supervisors, and other municipal boards.

The advisory committee currently meets at Oak Park High School. But it needs permission from school officials and cannot count on space being available, Haines said.

Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said the 24-hour presence of safety personnel would make other users of the facility comfortable at night.

County and local officials originally wanted to place a new facility on a 3 1/2-acre parcel at Kanan and Lindero Canyon roads. But Encino-based developer Gary Safady said he will not sell the parcel to the community because he wants to build a small retail shopping center on it.

“It was never offered for anything except for a retail center,” he said. “That’s just the highest and best use of the land.”

The next step in Schillo’s expansion plan will be to survey agencies to determine how much space is needed, before seeking funding and approval from the Board of Supervisors.

Schillo said the project would be funded through one or many sources, including county fire and sheriff’s operating budgets as well as state and federal funding.

So far, the plans have not drawn opposition.

“We’re going to get a benefit and there will be no rise in taxes,” advisory council member Haines said.