Airport Is a Top Concern of Candidates for Council

CAMARILLO â€”  The viability of a regional airport will be at the forefront of debate among those running for the City Council in the June special election.

So far, former Councilman Mike Morgan, and recent candidates Sherry Cole and Richard Lundberg have announced they are running for the seat left vacant by the death of Ken Gose. The 75-year-old councilman, who was in the middle of his second term, died Jan. 25 from complications of a brain tumor. The winner will serve the remaining 17 months of his four-year term.

Morgan, Cole and Lundberg all agree that the issue of converting the airfield at Point Mugu into a mixed-use airport with commercial flights is an important one.

Morgan served on the Camarillo Airport Authority for 10 years to make sure that none of the airport’s activities would bother city residents. And he said he wants to be just as vigilant with any additional flights originating at Point Mugu.

“I’m very much against the airport being turned into a regional commercial service airport,� said Morgan, who was on the City Council for 16 1/2 years before his unsuccessful bid for county supervisor last November. “It will have a direct effect on Camarillo and other cities that are unaware it will affect them.�

Morgan, 49, said he is not only worried about the additional planes flying over Camarillo, which result in noise and air problems, but is also concerned about the road traffic a commercial airport might generate.

The Point Mugu Regional Airport Authority, which consists of representatives from Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Ventura, Port Hueneme and the county, is continuing to negotiate with the Navy for joint-use of the Navy facility. Supervisor Frank Schillo, chairman of the authority, said he hopes the agency and the Navy will be able to hammer out an agreement by summer.

Sherry Cole, who was president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce when it took a stance in support of the joint use of Point Mugu, has a slightly different take on the issue.

Cole, who came in fourth out of 10 candidates in the balloting last November, says she is not in favor of the joint use of Point Mugu until the anticipated problems, such as the flight path, noise and the corresponding loss of agricultural land are corrected.

“All these issues would have to be mitigated before I would be willing to seriously entertain [its joint use],� said Cole, 49. “But if there is enough change in the proposal so that we’re looking at a totally different scenario, then it would be a poor decision maker who would not be willing to look at new information and judge it on that basis.�

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Richard Lundberg, the sixth-place finisher last fall, said there is nothing the people of Camarillo can do about the joint use of Point Mugu unless they stand up and make themselves heard.

“It will turn this lovely green land into the San Fernando Valley almost overnight,� Lundberg said. “The traffic, the noise--there will be instant pavement all over the whole valley.�

Keeping Camarillo from being engulfed by unchecked development is another principal issue among the candidates.

“We have to keep from burgeoning out like San Fernando Valley, but at the same time develop a healthy economy,� said Morgan, who supported a Camarillo growth control ordinance in 1983.

Morgan said he plans to keep agricultural resources from disappearing by not allowing such land to be rezoned. He also challenges Camarillo residents to consider allowing the city to purchase farmland and then leasing it back to the farmers to keep developers from tearing out crops.

“To purchase all the land around the city--hundreds of acres--would be very expensive so we’d have to see if it’s an option people would want to take,� said Morgan, who is a federal officer with the U.S. Pretrial Services Agency.

Cole, who is the district coordinator for the Pleasant Valley School District, agrees that a farmland management plan would be a good idea.

“It’s nice to say ‘Let’s preserve the ag land,’ but you have to come up with ways to keep the farmers in business,� said Cole, adding that, “You can’t expect them to farm and lose money just because you want pretty green land.�

But Lundberg, a retired aerospace manager, said he isn’t so sure the city can do much to aid local farmers, because it’s a county issue, not a city issue.

“The city can do nothing other than scream at the Board of Supervisors,� Lundberg said. “And you’ve got to make an awful lot of noise to have something that you don’t want stopped.�

Lundberg, 67, said he’d rather concentrate on how the city is operated.

“The city charges more than cost for their fees, which is absolutely in violation of state law,� he said. “If they are charging more than cost and they are the only provider of the service, then that is a tax which was not voted by the people.�

Larry Davis, Camarillo’s assistant city manager, said that all city fees are in full compliance of the law.

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Cole is also concerned that Camarillo might have too many regulations for businesses and schools. She would also like to see the integration of the military community into the local business community, so that defense technology can be shared with local businesses, schools and municipal government.

Al Fox, who came in fifth last November, and Dennis Fandey, who placed ninth, said they both considered running this spring, but decided to wait until the November 1998 election when three seats will be open.

Fandey, 44, is concentrating on his company, which teaches others how to have a home-based business, but said he will regularly attend council meetings to stay up to date on the issues. Fox, 58, said his candidacy has strong backing, but that he and Morgan have the same constituency and he doesn’t want to force people to choose between them.

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FYI

Others interested in becoming a candidate for the Camarillo City Council have until March 7 to notify City Clerk Marilyn Thiel at City Hall, or call 388-5314.