County Is Sued Over Boat Plan

An environmental group has sued Ventura County to block development of a boating instruction center at Channel Islands Harbor near Oxnard.

The nonprofit Beacon Foundation contends that county leaders approved the project last month without adequate review of the potential effects on coastal habitat.

Environmental Defense Center attorney John Buse, who represents the foundation, said the site selected for the center violated environmental protections set out in the county’s own planning guidelines and if left unchallenged “would open the door to unchecked and rampant redevelopment of Channel Islands Harbor.”

Leroy Smith, litigation supervisor for the county counsel’s office, said the county had not yet been served with the lawsuit and could not comment.

In mid-December, a Board of Supervisors’ majority agreed that the 18,000-square-foot center, which would offer sailing and ocean-safety classes, should be constructed on the harbor’s west side for safety and logistical reasons.

The decision infuriated several harbor-area residents and environmentalists who advocated putting the center on the east side and attacked the west-side plan as dismissive of environmental concerns, including herons that reportedly nest near the site.

County officials hope the $6.3-million center, which would be financed with state and county funds, can reinvigorate business at the harbor.

Linda Krop, chief counsel for the Environmental Defense Center, said the goal of the lawsuit was not to stop the project but to get the county to reconsider the alternative site on the east side or conduct a more thorough environmental review.