CHANNEL ISLANDS NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
PUBLIC MEETING:
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Speakers:
Chief Benites and Corporal Perez – OPD Update
District 1 Council Member – Bert Perello
Harbor Director – Michael Tripp
Ventura Food Drive – Rene Aiu
Airport Director – Keith Frietas
CINC MEETING NOTES THU OCT 27, 2022
Thank you to all who participated in the Channel Islands Neighborhood Council meeting Thursday, October 27, 2022, remotely and at the PCYC.
Our Guest speakers gave presentations and took questions from the audience. The meeting highlights include the
following organized by speaker.
Dave Copper, CINC Board Member: Announced that the County matched the $1.3 million funded by Oxnard to address the harbor water quality issues. In addition, Oxnard has funded $400,000 for filters that would benefit the harbor water quality. The
total funding for the harbor water quality issues is $3 million.
Chief Benites and Corporal Perez – OPD:Oxnard Police commended us on our community involvement in this neighborhood council meeting. It is this type of engagement that helps the community as a whole and helps the police do their work. Chief Benites encouraged residents to continue to be diligent and report any suspicious activities to the OPD, so that beat officers can better serve us in continuing to reduce the crime rate. Oxnard 311 is an app that the public can download onto their phones and report issues within the city. The non-emergency phone number to report disturbances is 805-385-7740. Chief Benites explained the expanded enforcement of fireworks ordinances including the use of drones. He also discussed racing and noise issues as well as homeless situations.
Council Member – Bert Perello, District 1: Council Member Perello again thanked us for a great turnout and spoke about the City of Oxnard and updated us on the new public swimming pool proposed for Oxnard, he showed caution that as the price of goods (Steel, Rebar, Cement, etc) has increased so too has the cost of building this pool. He pointed out that there are other services within the community that need updating and they too have increased prices for these goods. Perello pointed out that the Fire Department had requested upgrades to their fire engines and those orders have been put on hold and even orders for new supplies have been canceled due to increased pricing. Council Member Perello requested that the citizens of our community continue to become involved in the process and attend public meetings, as well as contact officials for concerns. He reiterated that these meetings are all public and accessible to the community.
Harbor Director – Michael Tripp: Director Michael Tripp spoke about the construction of the Hilton Hyatt hotel that is going to be located at the end of Peninsula Rd. He stated the demolition of the old Casa Sirena hotel has been completed and they are in the process of now working towards creating the rock embankment that will surround the tip of the peninsula. He spoke about the process and said that the rocks and the mesh beneath the rocks should last a long time. The next phase will be to start the construction of the building and put an overall 2 to 3-year period to completion. Director Tripp spoke about the Whales Tail, stating the harbor and county are in a 3-month Exclusive Right to Negotiate (ERN) with a new Whales Tail owner. Michael Tripp spoke about the Fisherman’s Wharf project and said residents have until November 2nd to submit any public comments about the 3 proposals that were presented to the harbor. Of those 3 proposals, one will be chosen to be presented to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors for approval and ultimately enter an ERN with the developer. He also showed slides 3 custom-painted stands where people can put their faces in and take photos, as well as new public binoculars at Silver Strand beach. He also announced the Parade of Frights Boat Parade (October 29, 2022) and the date of the Holiday Boat Parade (December 10, 2022)
Rene Aiu, Hollywood Beach Community Alliance: Rene Aiu spoke about the Food Share and Toy Drive. Rene has emphasized the importance of donating this year, stating that 1 in 6 people in Ventura County is food insecure. The Holiday Food drive is set for Saturday, December 3rd at Fisherman Wharf. Rene and FoodShare are looking for donations and volunteers. An anonymous donor has agreed to match contributions up to $12,000 and Rene asked for donors to increase their contributions by 12%.
Airport Director – Keith Frietas: Airport Director Keith Frietas gave a presentation on why we have a small airport here and the importance of both Camarillo and Oxnard airports in the bigger (national) picture. Having small airports around bigger airports is part of the standard for safety and creates less traffic at the bigger airports. Director Frietas also explained that electric vertical take-off “drones” are steadily coming soon, for example, the flying car & companies are looking for areas to hold this traffic and
Oxnard Airport is a location being looked at. He explained that a company is considering the Oxnard Airport to display their models and show how this will all work, during the 2028 Olympics (Los Angeles). He spoke about the Airport noise and concern of air traffic over residential areas here and said they are working with pilots to encourage less touch and go at one location for pilot schools and they are working with pilots to continue working on the flight patterns that limit the number of passes over one
particular location. The challenge is that there are 36 training schools with high turnover requiring ongoing education to the schools and training pilots. Director Freitas has made a commitment to make significant improvements to the community noise concerns by the end of 2022.
Location:
Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club
2600 Harbor Blvd, Oxnard, CA 93035
Or via Zoom
