Residents Criticize Moving School : Oxnard: Opponents cite many problems, including loss of farmland. But parents fear the airport’s proximity to the campus.

Residents of two neighborhoods Wednesday slammed a plan to move Oxnard High School near their homes, citing problems ranging from the disappearance of valuable farmland to possible cancer risk from the nearby Bailard Landfill.

But parents of Oxnard High students told trustees of the Oxnard Union High School District at a public hearing that the school should be moved because it is falling apart, and its proximity to Oxnard Airport threatens the safety of their children.

About 60 residents attended the hearing to discuss an environmental impact report on two proposed sites for moving the school, now located at 5th Street and Hobson Way. State officials have said the school’s location is a safety risk because it is less than a half mile from the Oxnard Airport runway.

“The school board must not act as an enabler to the development and destruction of agricultural land,” said Christopher Kingsley, a resident of the nearby Summerfield housing development, who has led opposition to the proposed sites.

Kingsley urged district officials to join residents in forcing the airport to close, eliminating the question of a safety risk. He also suggested that a site on the other side of town, in northeast Oxnard, should be considered, although the district is hoping to build another high school there.

Homeowners in the nearby Summerfield and River Ridge developments have charged that the school will bring crime and traffic to their community. They also said Wednesday that the report’s analysis of traffic, noise and growth impacts was inadequate.

Neighbors were joined in their opposition to the proposed site by others, including La Colonia resident Harold Ceja, who said agriculture is losing out to development in Oxnard.

“There’s no reason to move Oxnard High School,” Ceja said. “I don’t approve of any high school being built on farmland. . . . We are destroying Oxnard by growing too fast.”

Oxnard resident Edwin Young said the district should consider renovating the school. “I think the money would be better spent in improving what we’ve got,” Young said.

But parents of Oxnard High students said the school should be moved.

“If you have a kid out there playing football on that field and a damn plane comes down on them, let me see how you feel then,” said parent Shirley Bumpus.

“The school’s condemned, so let’s just move it,” said Betty Herold, president of the Oxnard High Parent-Teacher-Student Assn. PTSA.

The district is considering two 80-acre parcels on Gonzales Road at and near Patterson Road as relocation sites. One of the parcels is a citrus grove; the other is being used to farm row crops. The sites are outside the Oxnard city limits and would have to be annexed before the school could be built.

The seven-member State Allocation Board, which distributes state money for school construction, has set aside $20 million to build a new high school.

Oxnard resident Roy W. Lockwood, one of the most ardent opponents of the relocation plan, has argued that the airport is not a risk to the school.

Lockwood’s position is backed by Federal Aviation Administration officials, who said in an August, 1990, letter to Lockwood that the airport does not pose a risk to the school.

“We believe the operation is safe and in accordance with air traffic procedural requirements,” said the letter, which was signed by Ellsworth L. Chan, manager of the safety and standards branch of the FAA’s Western-Pacific regional headquarters in Hawthorne.

However, Bill Van Gundy, executive officer of the State Allocation Board, said the FAA ruling is irrelevant because school safety is determined by state officials and governed by state law.

In the case of Oxnard High, the state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aeronautics found that the airport presented a safety risk because of the flight pattern, Van Gundy said.

The FAA’s findings “wouldn’t have any bearing on what we can do at all,” he said.

Van Gundy said other schools in California are as close to airports, but Oxnard is unusual because of flight patterns directly over portions of the school’s buildings and its playing fields.

“This is one of the few schools where it really constitutes a safety hazard,” said Van Gundy, who is also a pilot. “I can see a potential for disaster. There’s a long history and a great safety record, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

The district will continue to take public comment on the environmental impact report until Nov. 20, officials said. A final report will be presented to the board for a vote on Dec. 4.