Oxnard Incurs $600,000 in Mall Litigation Expenses

The city has run up legal bills of nearly $600,000 in lawsuits aimed at blocking expansion of the Buenaventura Mall in neighboring Ventura, records released late Friday show.

That figure tops the estimated $500,000 in annual sales taxes Oxnard earns from two department stores it is struggling to keep at the city’s competing Esplanade mall.

Sears and Robinsons-May have announced plans to move across the Santa Clara River to the Buenaventura Mall as part of a $100-million expansion.

Oxnard officials launched the legal battle last year, alleging Ventura’s financial arrangement with the mall’s developer constitutes a gift of public funds and challenging the project’s environmental study.

Ventura city officials, who have spent $187,000 defending themselves, say their handling of the project was routine and proper.

Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom criticized Oxnard officials for causing legal fees in both cities to climb.

“It’s a tragedy that two cities have spent $700,000, and that isn’t the end of it,” Tingstrom said. “Every time I talk to a council person over there, they say they want it cleared up, but it doesn’t happen.”

Even some civic leaders in Oxnard are questioning the mall litigation, saying that City Council members should drop the issue.

“When it gets to the point where it’s costing more than what you’re gaining, it’s stupid,” said Steve Buratti, chairman of Oxnard’s Interneighborhood Council.

“If these private businesses choose to move, what right does the city have to tell them they can’t? The money would be better spent on enticing other businesses to come there.”

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez, however, said the legal expense is justified because the city cannot afford to lose the two department stores.

“We’re concerned it would decimate The Esplanade. If we lost those two anchors it would be disastrous,” Lopez said. “Some of the ancillary stores would be tempted to go elsewhere too.”

Oxnard’s legal invoices on the mall litigation were released after attorneys for the Ventura County Star newspaper sued the city of Oxnard for release of the records. The newspaper won release of the records last month.

The invoices total about $589,000, but Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig said the city has only paid about $520,000 because of discounts negotiated with lawyers handling the mall cases.

The revelations about both cities’ legal costs come just weeks after Ventura officials broke ground on the long-awaited expansion project at the Buenaventura Mall.

The legal battle began after Ventura officials announced in 1995 that the expansion would include the relocation of Sears and Robinsons-May from Oxnard’s Esplanade mall to the Buenaventura Mall.

In one lawsuit, Oxnard officials alleged flaws in the expansion’s environmental review and financing arrangement with mall developers. That lawsuit was rejected in February.

A separate lawsuit, which targeted changes in Ventura’s lease agreement with the developers, was struck down by a judge in April.

Gillig said Friday the city will continue to push appeals in both cases that could be heard early next year.

Not only is Ventura’s compliance with state environmental law important, but “the issue of public money for private interest is of general interest to all,” he said.

Times correspondent Richard Warchol contributed to this report.