Oxnard Council Goes to Bat for the Pacific Suns

After sitting out a season, the minor league Pacific Suns baseball team is on the verge of getting into the game at Oxnard College next year.

Fresh from winning the unanimous approval of City Council members to use the ball field, team owner Don DiCarlo on Wednesday stepped up efforts to appease disgruntled residents who say the team will bring unbearable noise and traffic jams.

The Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees must still sign off on the deal and is scheduled to take up the issue Tuesday night. Three of five board members said Wednesday that they still have concerns about the team’s impact on surrounding neighborhoods and want to hear more from residents--and DiCarlo--before they vote.

College officials have called a special meeting Friday to hear from residents who live near the ball field. Meanwhile, DiCarlo said he will meet with representatives of the nearby Country Club Mobile Estates this weekend.

“We learned about some of the concerns of the community last night,” DiCarlo said, referring to Tuesday’s council meeting, which drew about a dozen critics of his team. “This is an educational process.”

At the meeting, mobile home park resident Lois Jones said noise from Suns games would keep nearby residents, many of whom are retired, awake late at night.

“The fact they don’t want more noise in their neighborhood doesn’t make them bad people,” she said. “Invite the Suns to play anywhere in Oxnard, just not Oxnard College.”

But a majority of about 35 people who spoke at the meeting expressed enthusiastic support for the Suns. Waving team pennants and wearing Suns caps, they said Ventura County would benefit greatly from having the baseball club. Oxnard resident Joan McGee, for instance, urged mobile home park residents to drop their opposition.

“The Suns are doing something for the community,” she said. “You people living near the college, I feel for you, but they’re not here to run you out of your homes.”

Council members--who emphasized that the city had dropped plans to lend the Suns $250,000 for field improvements--also voiced strong support for the team.

“To be against baseball would like being against motherhood and apple pie,” Mayor Manuel Lopez said.

Added Councilman John Zaragoza: “I hear we can help the children of south Oxnard, I hear support from the business community, I hear about family outings and family values. I hear a lot of positives about the Suns.”

Last year, the Suns won approval from college and city officials to play at the field in 1997. But the approval came so late in the year that the Western Baseball League ordered the Suns to sit out this season and get ready for 1998.

But it appears that the Suns will have a more difficult time this year persuading college district trustees, who are still hearing complaints from residents.

Under the arrangement, the district would receive 5% of gross ticket sales from Suns games. It would also keep the additions that the team is scheduled to make at the field. Those include installing new bleachers that would boost capacity to about 2,500 and adding a security fence along the field.

Team officials have the option to renew the agreement to play at Oxnard College for 1999. But they have said they intend to build a stadium somewhere in Ventura County and use the college site for only one season.

On Wednesday, board President John Tallman said the district has already racked up $17,000 in legal fees to make a deal with the Suns. He questioned whether the team has enough financial backing to make all the promised improvements at the rundown college field.

“We’ve got some real problems,” he added. “I get calls from people all the time. People are afraid of the noise and lights. They don’t want the Suns here.”

Trustee Allan Jacobs said he wants to hear more about the Suns’ plans to cut down on noise and traffic problems. “I’m still on the fence,” he said.

Meanwhile, board member Norman Nagel said he will also consider more information about possible environmental impacts. But he said he hears support for the Suns from 99.9% of the people he speaks to, and plans to vote to approve the deal.

Trustees Pete Tafoya and Robert Gonzales were unavailable for comment.

DiCarlo spent much of Wednesday on the phone with Santa Barbara attorney David Fainer, who represents the Country Club Mobile Estates on Olds Road. Fainer warned council members at Tuesday’s meeting that they could run afoul of state law by approving the deal with the Suns before an environmental review is completed.

City officials dismissed the argument, saying the deal with the Suns would be off if the team does not comply with mitigation measures listed in the licensing agreement with the city. The city’s environmental report is due out before the end of the month, and officials said it would meet all state requirements.

DiCarlo said the team would not begin construction at the ball field until the environmental review is complete. He said the team plans to use speakers much less powerful than those at other minor league parks. Also, security guards will be hired to make sure that no one at the games wanders out and disturbs mobile home residents, he added.

“You’ve got to be a lot more careful with residents these days,” DiCarlo said. “Fifty years ago, you could just put stuff in and people had to live with it.”

He also said the team has strong financial support from about a dozen local business people who have invested in the Suns since they announced their intention to move from Palm Springs last year.

At Tuesday’s meeting, team officials sounded a family values theme, vowing a tasteful slate of promotions. In Palm Springs, they drew attention for their racy “Nude Night” and “Drag Queen Night” promotions. The current agreement stipulates that city and college district officials must approve all promotional events. It also prohibits alcohol and tobacco sales during games.

“There is no nude night, screaming pizzas or sumo wrestlers,” said Leana Bowman, the team’s promotions manager. “Everything I bring to the stadium will be appropriate. It’s going to be a benefit for everyone with families. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

If the Suns win approval next week from college trustees, they will do so just before a Nov. 21 deadline set by the nine-team Western Baseball League. The league requires lease arrangements for playing fields to be made before that date, so it can move ahead with the next season’s schedule.

Tom Kowitz, the league’s executive director, said the Suns have paid their $24,000 in annual dues. The team must also pay about $28,000 in concessions and game fees that are owed to the city of Palm Springs, league officials said.

Palm Springs City Manager Rob W. Parkins said the team and city are in negotiations to settle the debt.

“We’re negotiating, and we have no hesitation to make it clear they have not filled their obligations,” Parkins said. “I guess the good news is they’ve made an offer to pay it back.”

DiCarlo said the team had already sent a check to Palm Springs officials. “That is completely settled,” he said. “It’s taking until the eleventh hour to get it done. . . . We’re waiting for the final signatures.”

Some Oxnard residents, meanwhile, question the team’s commitment to the city.

Bernard Dunhom, a frequent council critic, compared the Suns to the Los Angeles Raiders, who left Oxnard after agreeing to build a practice field.

“I thought we learned our lesson with the Raiders,” he said. “They took us to the cleaners, and we’re still paying for it. . . . I say send them [the Suns] back to Palm Springs.”