City to Pay $1 Million for Cornell Site

The city will pay $1 million for the downtown building that a private corrections firm had outfitted as a halfway house for prisoners awaiting parole. In closed session before its meeting Tuesday night, the City Council approved the settlement between Oxnard and Cornell Corrections Inc. and the state Department of Corrections.

To compensate Cornell for its investment, Oxnard will pay the company $700,000 for the two-story building and land on D Street, plus $300,000 for improvements the company had made to the building. Cornell must move out by Sunday.

As part of the agreement, Cornell and the Department of Corrections agree not to sue the city, which had approved a special-use permit for the halfway house before residents objected. The neighbors said a public hearing should have been held on the permit for the 40-bed facility, which was to house state prisoners awaiting parole.

Several residents, including a group representing an elementary school near the halfway house, applauded the settlement after it was announced Tuesday.

Unable to operate the facility as it had proposed, Cornell is forfeiting a $3-million contract with the state but can reapply to open a similar facility.