Plan for RV Campground at Foster Park Dies

Ventura County parks officials have backed off a plan to build a 10-space RV campground at Foster Park after nearby residents protested that it would harm the Ventura River.

Grading was already underway when members of an Ojai Valley advisory council recommended that the county consider other uses for the site north of Ventura off Highway 33. The project is now dead while other options are being studied, said Theresa Lubin of the county’s parks department.

The location in question was a youth baseball field until torrential El Nino storms in 1998 swelled the nearby Ventura River so high that an 80-foot chunk of land tore away. A replacement ball field can’t be built because there’s not enough space left, Lubin said.

“If someone hit a fly into right field, it would go into the river,” she said.

With $80,000 in federal emergency funding in hand, county parks officials considered other uses and came up with the RV campground, Lubin said. She said demand is always high for camping spots, particularly with RV hookups.

At 40% occupancy, overnight camping fees would have generated $45,000 in annual revenue, enough to maintain both the campground and a portion of 205-acre Foster Park, Lubin said. That was an important consideration for the always cash-strapped parks department, she said.

After receiving approval from the county Parks Commission, grading for the campground began earlier this year. But when nearby residents learned of the project, they began calling the parks department to protest.

The Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council and county Supervisor Steve Bennett, who represents the area where Foster Park is located, led the fight to defeat the RV plan.

“At this point it is clear that the community is not in favor of a campground,” Lubin said.

Russ Baggerly was among those opposed to the RV park. Baggerly, who sits on the Ojai Valley advisory council and is a longtime environmental activist, said the site should be converted into a grassy playing area or a picnic ground.

The thought of overnight campers trampling over areas where the California red-legged frog and steelhead trout have historically made a home worried him, Baggerly said.

“The Ventura River is a sensitive area and these are endangered species,” he said.

For now, huge piles of dirt are all that remain of the former ball field. Lubin said she is unsure what the next step will be, but believes the most likely use for the site will be a grassy picnic area.

Reversal on the RV campground plan is just the latest setback for a parks department that has struggled to become self-sufficient in recent years.

Proposals for an amphitheater in Camarillo, a theme park in Moorpark and expanded overnight RV parking on the Rincon Highway north of Ventura all drew heavy criticism before being withdrawn. One recent success was approval of an 18-hole golf course at Happy Camp Regional Park near Moorpark.