Noise, Traffic at Suns Ball Games Would Be Manageable, Study Says

OXNARD — A city plan to let the minor league Pacific Suns baseball team play at Oxnard College next year will bring more noise and traffic to surrounding neighborhoods, but none of the problems are beyond control, an environmental study released by city officials Wednesday concludes.

The 100-page consultant’s study states that the plan to hold home games at the ballpark will “have no significant effect on the environment” provided the club addresses potential problems before the season starts in the spring.

Those steps include adding a 340-space parking lot on the college campus and situating public address system speakers so that nearby residents hear a minimal amount of noise. Similar steps should be taken to cut down on the glare from ball field lighting, the report states.

The report takes into account a number of improvements to the college ballpark that team officials have agreed to make. Those include adding bleachers to boost capacity to about 2,500, improving existing dugouts, putting up a chain-link fence to keep people from sneaking into games and installing eight 80-foot-high lighting poles.

Suns owner Don DiCarlo said the report should appease mobile home activists who have protested that baseball games will greatly disrupt their lives.

“If those people take the existing information and digest what’s being said, they will see that this will make an existing facility better,” DiCarlo said. “There are controls, and the quality of life will be even better than before. This really helps their neighborhood.”

Mobile home activist Martin Jones, a strong critic of the ballpark plan, declined to comment Wednesday because he had not yet read the environmental report.

On game nights, the consultants estimated, there will be about 467 car trips to the ballpark between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. and 639 trips from the park between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Consultants estimate that games will attract about 2,000 fans. The schedule calls for 45 home games in 1998.

Surrounding streets have enough room to handle the traffic, provided that several city projects continue as planned, the report states. In coming months, workers will widen a portion of Pleasant Valley Road to four lanes and put traffic signals on portions of the road, according to the report. City Planner Deanna Walsh said the traffic projects are on schedule.

To cut down on noise, the report suggests situating public address system microphones so that they do not pick up applause. The homes closest to the field are about 250 feet away.

Residents with concerns about the ballpark proposal have until Jan. 5 to send written comments to the city of Oxnard.

The Suns have been given tentative approval by Oxnard City Council members to play at the college, and council members are expected to approve the environmental study early next year. After that, Ventura County Community College District trustees, who have previously expressed support for the plan, will vote on the issue.