Where Is the Airport? : Camarillo: Sixteen non-aviation tenants call the prime land home. As a result, plans for expansion may be grounded. Pilots say they are fed up.

James O’Neill admits it’s weird to put an animal shelter at the county’s largest airport. And yes, he says it’s strange that a Greek church, a school for mentally disturbed youths and a police shooting range have also moved in.

But the 750 acres that make up the Camarillo Airport have become the land-use catchall for Ventura County. There are 16 non-aviation tenants--ranging from a training facility for county firefighters to a work-furlough program--tucked on the site. “Whatever you want, you can find it here,” said O’Neill, the airport’s administrator.

After all, the airport is on a prime piece of land centrally located near the Ventura Freeway, he said. The monthly rents of 40 to 80 cents a square foot are cheaper than other places in the county, airport officials say.

Much of O’Neill’s job since the county took over the former Air Force base 15 years ago has been to try to keep the noise down at the airport. The mixed uses provide just the ticket.

But the pilots say they have had enough.

Donna Hollingsworth, a member of the Ventura County Aviation Assn., said every time she turns around, someone wants to put another unusual operation at the airport.

“We have to fight like the dickens to keep it aviation,” Hollingsworth said. “There are some people who would like to turn it into a theme park.”

She may be right.

Some officials on the Airport Advisory Board have been encouraging the unusual uses because they would be difficult to evict if the county wanted to expand the facility into a regional airport. Who would want to throw out a church, a school and the police? officials ask.

So, in a roundabout way, aviation foes have placed a roadblock in front of in any plans to expand the Camarillo Airport--a heated issue that has been debated over the years.

Camarillo Vice Mayor Michael Morgan, who serves on the Airport Advisory Board, has a motto: “The more things out there the better, as long as it keeps out a regional airport.”

And the proposals keep coming in.

Several weeks ago, an Ojai golf buff proposed building a 300-yard driving range, complete with night lighting and a clubhouse, at the end of an abandoned runway. Authorities rejected the plan after pilots said the driving range would cause a safety hazard.

“There was no way they could shield golf balls from hitting an airplane,” Hollingsworth said.

And several years ago, a developer wanted to build a “poor man’s Disneyland” on a corner of the site, she said. The airport officials turned down the plan because it was just too ambitious.

But other plans have been approved by the airport board despite pilots’ objections, Hollingsworth said.

A county fire engine repair shop was placed near one of the runways after the Federal Aviation Administration gave airport officials the go-ahead.

“I know their logic,” Hollingsworth said. “They’ll stick anything out there. They would build a 20-story tower at the end of the runway if they thought it would keep the planes out.”

But O’Neill insists that politicians are not trying to push out aviation altogether.

“The pilots have to remember that if it were not for the renters, the hangar rates would be twice the amount,” O’Neill said. “No one has a legitimate complaint.”

The non-aviation tenants pay nearly $900,000 annually in rent. As a result, the airport has been able to keep the pilots’ hangar fees at about $250 a month per plane.

County Supervisor Maggie Erickson said that without the uses, the county would have to subsidize the Camarillo and Oxnard airports.

“It’s a real interesting challenge to take a piece of property like that and make the most of it financially for the county,” Erickson said. “A lot of enterprising people have found ways to do that.”

According to O’Neill, other renters include a fire station, the border patrol, the Oxnard High School District, the superintendent of schools, the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District and several engineering firms. A small playhouse for the Camarillo Community Theatre, a swimming pool and baseball and soccer fields are also there.

O’Neill said most of the tenants occupy old Army barracks that have been upgraded over the years.

Father Matthew Gilbert, a priest at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, said that, overall, congregation members have been pleased with the airport site.

“We were just glad to be in Camarillo,” Gilbert said. “At the time, this was the only place that was available. It has worked out well. We have not had any problems.”

And Tom McGee, the mental health coordinator for the Phoenix School, a county-run program for emotionally distraught youths, said school officials picked the airport site because it is centrally located.

But there have been a few problems.

“Some of the guys in the work-furlough program have been seen leering at female students,” McGee said.

And once in a while, upset students will leave the school and wander around the site. Once a youth climbed the airport water tower. Another persuaded a pilot to give him a ride, McGee said.

But the least of their problems, McGee and Gilbert say, is noise from the airplanes.

“We hardly ever hear them,” Gilbert said.

And that’s the way Morgan plans to keep it.

The next time the regional airport issue comes up, Morgan said he has a suggestion: permanently station the green and white Fuji blimp, which could be seen for miles when it stopped in Ventura County earlier this year, at the site.

“Hey, I’d welcome the Fuji blimp right in the middle of the runway,” Morgan said.

So what if it’s big? Morgan said. At least it’s quiet.