Tucked near the base of the Santa Monica Mountains south of Camarillo lies a rugged piece of land that Ventura County officials hope to transform into a rolling green golf course.
A small group of critics hope just as fervently that the golf course will never be developed at Camarillo Regional Park.
Environmentalists say the park, which is near the Santa Monica Mountains preserve, is an important wildlife corridor for mountain lions, deer and coyotes, and its wetlands draw egrets, herons and other migratory birds.
"We have an opportunity to save this open space," golf course opponent Carol Rosendahl said. "The county just looks at it as a space they can't do anything with. They just want to make money."
For Rosendahl, the plan is eerily familiar - a Ventura County judge blocked a similar proposal for a golf course and amphitheater in 1998, saying the plan failed to consider effects on wetlands, wildlife and traffic.
The new plan doesn't include an amphitheater and addresses environmental impacts, said Theresa Lubin, program administrator for the county Parks Department.
The 386-acre parcel, which the county acquired from the National Park Service in the 1980s, has always been earmarked for development, Lubin said.
Rosendahl and others fighting the proposed golf course object to the lack of public access to the property. The county has effectively barred the public from entering the park for the past 20 years, she said.
The Santa Monica Mountains and Calleguas Creek form natural barriers to the property, and a locked gate keeps out all but members of two hobby clubs who have permission to use the park. Hikers who park outside the gate face tickets, Rosendahl said.
Joe Martin, a member of the Channel Islands Condors, a model-airplane club that has the county's permission to use the park, said he often encounters interlopers inside the gate who sneak onto the property. Abandoned farm buildings inside the park are frequent targets of vandalism, he said.
"They basically have made us into a gatekeeper," Martin said. "We didn't ask for that."
Lubin said anyone with a legitimate use for the park can gain permission to enter it, but noted the park's lack of facilities.
"We don't prohibit people from using that park," she said. "But there are a lot of parks available that have bathrooms."
But Rosendahl contends that several groups, including the Boy Scouts of America, have been denied permission to use the park, despite meeting a long list of requirements.
County officials said they need a golf course on the site to generate revenue for the Parks Department, which derives 35 percent to 40 percent of its $2.1 million operations and maintenance budget from lease agreements.
A golf course at the Camarillo site eventually would generate $500,000 per year for the department, which already leases three courses in Ojai, Saticoy and Moorpark, parks manager Andy Oshita said.
A consultant hired in the 1980s concluded that the county needed to build eight public golf courses to meet demand, Oshita said. But Rosendahl cited a 1999 market analysis by a private company that concluded that the area already has a glut of golf courses.
The National Park Service, which transferred the property to the county, approved the plan for a golf course on the site provided that the county mitigate environmental concerns.
The transfer was completed with the understanding that the public would have access to the site. Access by the Channel Islands Condors and another hobby group fulfills that requirement, Lubin said.
Federal officials generally maintain a hands-off attitude once the property has been transferred, said Melanie Beck, an outdoor-recreation planner for the NPS.
"It is assumed that it will be open to the public," Beck said. "As far as the management, we don't really play an active role. A golf course is an acceptable use, but just because you say 'golf course' doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."
County Supervisor John Flynn said he initially supported the proposal to build a golf course on the site but is reconsidering after encountering a flood of opposition.
"I've probably gotten 250 e-mails" opposing the plan, Flynn said. "I probably couldn't get that many people to come to my burial."
The county's plans for the park are ironic considering that voters, who overwhelmingly approved slow-growth measures in the 1990s, will be asked in November to approve a quarter-percent sales-tax increase to purchase and preserve open space within the county, said Paul Nicholson, another critic of the golf course plan.
"People really don't know about the county's plans," Nicholson said. "It's a matter of getting the message out. We feel that the way Ventura County voters feel about open space, they probably wouldn't want a golf course there."
Source: The Daily News of Los Angeles
