Venue Operators Vow to Keep Traffic Flowing

Operators of Ventura County’s first major outdoor concert venue say shuttle buses and traffic cops would take care of anticipated traffic problems at the amphitheater, which would be built at Camarillo Regional Park.

But if not, the operators say they are prepared to spend up to several million dollars to widen roads and add lanes.

“First we’ll try traffic control,” said Chuck Cohen, representative of Camarillo Amphitheater Managing Partners LLC. “We have every reason to be optimistic that it will work. But since this hasn’t been tried out in Ventura County or in Camarillo, public officials wish to have backup measures.”

Because the 16,000-seat amphitheater is proposed to have parking for only 6,100 vehicles, operators plan to set up satellite parking lots in Camarillo and the western end of Thousand Oaks so that concert-goers can be shuttled to the site, off Lewis Road south of Pleasant Valley Road.

“We’ll also be utilizing off-duty police officers located at exits from the [Ventura Freeway] and all along the road system as far as [California 1] at Point Mugu,” Cohen said.

Car-pooling will be encouraged through discounted parking rates, and to minimize traffic impacts on two-lane Lewis Road, only eight sell-outs would be allowed each year. Just 12,000 tickets would be sold for the remaining 22 events.

“We believe this will work,” he said. “But if after a couple performances we find that our expectations fall short, then we’ll be sitting down and working out the other mitigation measures.”

These could include creating a contra-flow lane on Lewis Road south of Pleasant Valley Road, improving right-turn capacity on the southbound Ventura Freeway ramp at Las Posas Road and adding a southbound lane on Las Posas Road at Pleasant Valley Road.

The Camarillo City Council will decide Wednesday night whether these plans will lessen traffic impacts on city streets.

“We’re dealing with a project that doesn’t generate the same amount of traffic each event,” said Tom Fox, the city’s transportation engineer. “The idea is to structure [the plan] so that it addresses all scenarios. . . . The operator will have to continue implementing measures until the roads operate at least as well as they do during peak rush hours.”

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved conversion of the county park into an amphitheater and 18-hole golf course last month, despite complaints that the county was selling out its natural resources.

The 375-acre project, designed to generate $750,000 annually for the county, would be the only self-sufficient county park in the nation.

Under the agreements, the developers assume the estimated $12-million to $15-million construction costs in exchange for use of the county land.

State and federal agencies must also approve the project before it can move forward because of potential damage to wetlands and plant life.