Oxnard Votes to Appeal Ruling in Mall War

The Oxnard City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to appeal a recent court defeat in the city’s long-running battle with Ventura over expansion of the Buenaventura Mall.

The city will seek review by the California Supreme Court with the hopes that justices will overturn a decision last month in Ventura’s favor by the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Oxnard has waged a two-year legal battle with Ventura to overturn Ventura’s approval of the mall expansion and thereby save sales-tax dollars that Oxnard might lose.

A three-justice state appeals court in Ventura ruled that the Ventura City Council did nothing wrong in financing the project and assessing its environmental effects.

Oxnard officials contend Ventura failed to hold proper public hearings before the city made changes to the project’s environmental impact report. Oxnard also argues Ventura’s 20-year financing plan requires a ballot measure.

Attorneys hired by Oxnard for the appeal plan to argue those points in the petition for review, R. Bruce Tepper, an attorney for Oxnard, said.

“The court of appeal clearly missed the point in rendering their decision last month. There is significant California Supreme Court precedent that will greatly assist Oxnard in its petition for review,” he said.

Construction on the multimillion-dollar mall expansion began in October and is scheduled to be completed by October 1999. The expansion calls for a second floor of mall shops and the addition of two anchor stores, doubling the mall’s size.