City to Purchase 3 Lots Near Port

The Oxnard City Council agreed Tuesday that the city’s redevelopment agency should buy three vacant lots near Ormond Beach in an effort to stimulate industry in south Oxnard.

Unless another buyer comes forward, the agency will purchase the lots for about $20,000 and then pay an additional $64,716 to clear up delinquent fees the current owner owes to the assessment district.

The lots are in foreclosure proceedings--the owner, Westoaks Investment, has fallen behind in payments--and are scheduled for a foreclosure sale later this month.

City officials said Oxnard could eventually resell the lots, located near the Port of Hueneme, to companies that want to bring light industry to the area.

“I would look at hopefully some port-related smaller businesses that can benefit from being just down the street from the port,� said Steve Kinney, president of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp.

The agency would transfer about $109,500 from a special account used for road widening in the area to pay for the lots, which amount to about 4 1/2 acres, and the overdue assessments. The remainder would be used to buy other properties in the area also under foreclosure.

The land across the street from the vacant lots is now home to companies that prepare new cars for shipping to area dealers.

The Ormond Beach area in general has been the topic of much discussion as environmentalists and others have criticized plans by the financially beleaguered developer The Baldwin Co. to build homes in the area.

Conservationists have argued that the Ormond Beach wetlands--home to several protected species--would be a poor place for residential development. And manufacturers have said that houses do not belong near factories. But some south Oxnard residents have said homes would help bring economic revitalization to the area.