Land Deal Would Seal Theater Plan
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to acquire a piece of land needed to complete a 16,000-seat amphitheater and golf course in Camarillo.
The county would obtain the 43-acre parcel adjacent to Camarillo Regional Park from developer Operating Engineers, a union trust fund.
Under a proposed agreement, the county would assume Operating Engineers’ responsibility for an estimated $145,000 in maintenance and mosquito abatement work at Operating Engineers’ Dos Vientos project.
In exchange, Operating Engineers would agree to deed over the 43 acres of land in Camarillo to the county. Plans call for New York-based SFX Broadcasting Inc. to build the amphitheater and for Texas-based EAGL Golf to develop part of a proposed 18-hole golf course at the site.
“We’d love to be open in 1999,” said Robert Amore, lease development manager for the Ventura County Parks Department. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Amore said it remains unclear what effect pending litigation will have on the project. Two environmental groups sued the county last year in an attempt to overturn plans to develop the amphitheater and golf course, claiming that state law and Ventura County planning policies were violated.
According to Amore, a decision in the lawsuit is expected “any week now.”
“If we win we’ll be able to go forward with the plans as they exist,” Amore said. “If not we would modify them and then move forward.”
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