Judge Rejects Action Over Site for Suns

A neighborhood effort to block the Pacific Suns from playing at Oxnard College failed Wednesday when a judge denied a request to prevent construction at the campus ballpark.

The legal challenge had threatened to keep the minor league baseball team, which sat out last season after moving to Oxnard from Palm Springs, on the sidelines for another year. But Superior Court Judge David Long rejected resident Dennis Ralph’s request for a preliminary injunction aimed at halting construction.

Approval would have blocked a ballpark upgrade and forced the city to take a closer look at potential environmental problems, such as traffic, fan noise and bright lights. In addition, the city would have had to consider alternate sites.

Long, however, ruled that the city’s environmental study--which anticipates no significant problems--had been proper and thorough. He added that there was nothing wrong with the Suns scheduling 45 home games even though environmental issues had not been settled.

“A minor league baseball team is clearly a business entity and has to do that,” he said. “They can’t set a schedule at the eleventh hour.”

Suns owner Don DiCarlo said construction will begin soon in preparation for a May 23 opening day. The team plans to install new bleachers--boosting capacity to 2,500--and to put up numerous 80-foot-high lights.

“I was really confident what would happen,” DiCarlo said. “God put us here for an important reason, not to be stopped by an insignificant lawsuit.”

But Ralph, who lives close to the south Oxnard ballpark, said he would appeal the decision. He said he feels betrayed by city officials, who he said pledged to let the Suns play only if neighborhood problems could be prevented.

“When I go out in the summertime, I’m going to see the sky lit up like a halo,” Ralph said. “I’m concerned that if [the Suns] don’t get a permanent site, they’ll stay here year after year.”