Aquarium Supporters Hope for 2005 Opening

Five years after an aquarium in the Ventura Harbor was proposed, its supporters gave a progress report, saying they hope the privately funded center can be built by early 2005.

The nonprofit Santa Barbara Channel Foundation believes the planned marine learning center, with 1 million gallons of exhibit space, would draw 500,000 visitors a year, said John Cahill, the group’s executive director. That hinges on securing the land, then raising $27 million in private funds, he told the Ventura Port District Board of Commissioners this week.

The project is the group’s second attempt at getting an aquarium built in the Santa Barbara Channel area. The first proposal, planned for Santa Barbara, failed, even though the group raised almost $2 million in private donations, Cahill said.

The Ventura center, which would be called the Channel Islands Marine Learning Center, is the latest in a long line of aquarium proposals for Ventura County’s harbors, including one once envisioned at Channel Islands Harbor and a different proposal for Ventura Harbor. Proponents of each said the centers would create jobs and draw thousands of visitors, but all eventually failed to find funding.

The foundation plans to have real estate, city-required approvals and all other groundwork in place before starting fund-raising for this project, Cahill said. It expects to fund 75% of the price through low-interest private-issue bonds and the rest through private donations.

The land would either be leased or bought from the Ventura Port District, said Oscar Pena, general manager of the port district.

The center eventually would be supported by ticket sales, Cahill said.

The aquarium would be small compared with high-profile centers such as those in Long Beach and Monterey, and also create far fewer jobs--about 30--than previous aquarium proposals.

But it probably would draw patrons from Santa Maria to the San Fernando Valley, Cahill said, and, if built adjacent to the Channel Islands National Park Visitors’ Center on Spinnaker Drive as proposed, would serve as a gateway to Channel Islands National Park.

That appeals to Ventura Mayor Sandy Smith, who says it would bring the city more tourist dollars.

“For us, it’s a stepping-off point,” Smith said.

Plans for the center show several aquariums highlighting different types of marine life found in the Channel Islands National Park. The largest would be a 250,000-gallon tank with a kelp forest. The public galleries would total about 23,000 square feet.