Ventura Bolsters Funds for Stadium Study

The Ventura City Council decided Monday to spend an additional $25,000 to study whether the proposed Centerplex baseball stadium and sports complex would be a good deal for the city.

The seven-member council voted 3 to 2 to increase the consulting contract to a maximum of $50,000. Earlier, the council had agreed to spend only $25,000 to study whether the city’s contribution to the project would be a sound investment.

Councilmen Steve Bennett and Gary Tuttle voted against the proposal, criticizing the developer for failing to work with city officials in a timely manner and forcing them to spend more money.

“Centerplex is chewing up everybody’s time and they are not following the council’s direction,� Bennett said.

Tuttle criticized the project for being ill-defined in its scope and said he could not support spending any more money studying it.

“I don’t know if I am for or against the project because I don’t know what the project is,� he said. “I am not going to support that [project] until they get their act together.�

Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures abstained from the vote. Mayor Jack Tingstrom was absent due to a heart condition that led to his hospitalization Sunday.

Last year, the city hired Economic & Planning Systems--the same firm that conducted financial studies for the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall--to prepare a market feasibility study for the proposed Centerplex project. The project is planned for a plot of farmland behind the Ventura Auto Center.

The Centerplex project, which is expected to come before the council for consideration this summer, would include a minor league baseball stadium, retail shops and possibly an aquatic stadium.