CAMARILLO : Developers Defend Factory Outlet Plan

The developers of a proposed factory outlet center in Camarillo responded to criticism of their plan on Tuesday, fending off charges from angry residents who say the 86.5-acre site will rob the city of its vanishing farmland while adding to air pollution.

Sammis officials, greeted by a group of opposition placards outside City Hall, said their project would cause no new emissions.

But planning commissioners asked Sammis officials whether the project’s proximity to the Conejo Grade would create a pocket of pollution.

“To say this project creates any significant difference in air quality would be an incorrect statement,� Sammis consultant Tom Worthington said. “You would see an incremental difference, but you are starting to split hairs.�

To gain approval to build the 857,000-square-foot retail and hotel center, Sammis must first amend the city’s General Plan to change the designated land use on the site from agricultural to commercial.

An economic study commissioned by the city in 1990 had concluded that constructing a factory outlet center was the easiest way to stem the exodus of consumers from Camarillo to nearby cities.

The project’s outlet stores, specialty shops, hotel and recreation facilities could generate $2.3 million in annual tax revenues, according to the study. That would single-handedly save Camarillo from a budget crunch forecast for the mid-1990s, said the study’s authors, Economic Research Associates, a Los Angeles consulting firm.

But 10 homeowner associations near the project site joined to form the Ventura County League of Homeowners, taking aim at the project.

The league has collected signatures from 7,600 residents who oppose the center.

Worthington said Sammis would take steps to relieve pollution caused by increased traffic to the area, such as creating a local transportation service. They would also buy emission credits from the state, he said.

Tuesday’s hearing was the third since early October. The Planning Commission is expected to vote on the issue at its Nov. 12 hearing.

The site is bordered on the east by Pleasant Valley Road, on the south by the Ventura Freeway and on the north by Adohr Lane.