Suns to Meet With City on a New Home

The management of the Pacific Suns plans to meet with Oxnard officials next week to discuss a new home for the team.

The independent minor league ballclub earlier this week agreed to move from the ballpark at Oxnard College after settling a legal dispute with nearby resident Dennis Ralph, said Charles Hack, chairman of the corporation that owns the team.

“We are a very visible entity and the last thing we want to do is have any kind of a fight with a citizen about what we do,” he said.

Ralph had sought an injunction before the season began to block the team from playing at the field, contending such potential environmental problems as traffic and stadium floodlights had been inadequately addressed. The injunction was rejected by a Superior Court judge in February, but Ralph pursued the lawsuit, Hack said.

The Suns played their last home game of the season Friday night and will now turn their attention to finding a new home, preferably elsewhere in Oxnard, Hack said.

But the first-year team--wracked with financial problems, a dismal on-field record and poor attendance--will not sit out another season as it did when it moved from Palm Springs, he said.

“We don’t believe our franchise could survive sitting out another year,” he said.

“We may be fortunate enough to really step on it and have a stadium built by next May--we’re not talking about building Dodger Stadium.”