Port Poised to Give Land for Tourist Center

Hoping to boost business at Ventura Harbor, city port officials are poised to donate two beachfront acres to the National Park Service to build an environmentally themed tourist center.

Ventura Port District commissioners voted unanimously in support of a plan to donate the property, said Ed Wohlenberg, general manager of the port district.

Park officials have pledged to build a visitor center spotlighting the Channel Islands and environmental issues if given the land, Wohlenberg said. The donation is expected to be finalized in two or three months, after port officials review building and parking plans, he said.

The new building would sit near the park service’s Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at the harbor. Officials already credit that site, which features tide pools, photographs of the Channel Islands and other attractions, for drawing tourists.

A 1995 assessment put the value of the two acres at $763,000, officials said.

The donation marks the latest effort by port officials to revive business at the harbor, which is bankrupt and seeking ways to boost revenues in order to repay creditors.

While hailing the proposed center as a major new attraction, Wohlenberg said he does not know what kind of exhibits it will house or what it will look like. He said the center would cater to local schoolchildren and teachers.

Port officials consider the deal important because competing local harbors have expressed interest in the new center.

“With ever-increasing visitations to the [Lagomarsino center] and the islands themselves, there is . . . interest by the neighboring harbors of Channel Islands and Santa Barbara in seeking placement of this facility,” Wohlenberg wrote in a memorandum.

“If our neighbors were successful, it would be a terrible loss for the district and the community.”

Park officials say that nearly 290,000 people came to the harbor’s visitor center last year.

“We greatly look forward to this exciting opportunity to serve the educational needs of the city,” parks Supt. Tim J. Setnicka wrote in a letter to port officials.