Airport Called a School Obstacle

The Oxnard Airport is holding up plans to open a new school in the area, city officials said Thursday.

Mayor Manuel Lopez said he has long favored closing the airport, once a stop for billionaire Howard Hughes and other rich and powerful people, and putting a school on the site.

“The most negative aspect of having the airport here is the inability to have schools in the area,” Lopez said. “The city is being challenged to find school sites, and the airport has been a major obstacle.”

Last week a committee formed by the Oxnard Airport Authority to chart a strategy for the airport voted to shut the facility down in 2005.

The Airport Authority is expected to rule on the committee’s recommendations Sept. 14.

City Councilman Dean Maulhardt has heard the talk about the airport as a nuisance, but said “discussing closing the airport is premature.”

“I understand the concerns, but we must think is this an out-and-out closing more than it is a mission statement?”