OXNARD—JoAnna Steele has seen restaurants and other retailers come and go from Fisherman’s Wharf in Oxnard since its opening more than 40 years ago. Steele opened My Studio Gallery 42 years ago, when the Cape Cod-style buildings were first leased on the east side of Channel Islands Harbor. She said at its height, it was a thriving waterfront community of specialty retailers and restaurants serving the local community, visitors and boaters. Over the years, businesses have left for various reasons and a lack of upkeep of the buildings has left the area with peeling paint, high vacancy rates and little foot traffic.
“I think it should be fixed up and filled up,” Steele said.
Discussions about reinvigorating Fisherman’s Wharf have been around since about 2005, but after recent disagreements between Ventura County and the city of Oxnard over how the property should be used, it is now back to the drawing board.
In 2015, the county Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with Channel Islands Harbor Properties for the development of Fisherman’s Wharf. Channel Islands Properties Group planned a mixed-use development with a multi-story apartment building rising as high as 55 feet, 36,000 square feet of commercial space, boat slips, a public promenade, park and refurbishment of the lighthouse. The residential aspect of the project faced criticism from some community members as well as the city of Oxnard and a political back-and-forth ensued.
In 2019, the Oxnard City Council voted to deny the county’s plans to rezone the area to allow for residential uses. The county then challenged the city’s rejection. In August, the California Coastal Commission rejected the county’s request to override the city of Oxnard’s decision to not allow a rezoning for residential uses.
A few weeks after the decision, Ventura County came back to the drawing board, announcing the hiring of Sargent Town Planning, a team of urban planning consultants, to lead a public visioning process for the future of Channel Islands Harbor and a new plan for Fisherman’s Wharf.
“In recent years a number of new development proposals in the Harbor have encountered challenges due to community concerns,” David Sargent, Senior Principal of Sargent Town Planning, said in a released statement. “We are working closely with the steering committee to refine and conduct an open and transparent process to develop a long-term vision for the Harbor, a vision supported by the community, the county of Ventura, the city of Oxnard, and by economic realities.”
The steering committee will oversee the process and is made up of a dozen county and Oxnard city officials, harbor residents, harbor business owners and harbor neighborhood officials. Community members will also have the opportunity to participate in the planning.
“That’s what we’re embarking on, is this vision for the harbor, what should we do in this harbor, what should it look like, what should it feel like,” said Ventura County Harbor Department Director Mark Sandoval, who is a member of the steering committee.
Sandoval is hopeful this visioning process will push forward some type of mutually beneficial project and soon.
“Focusing on those areas that in the short run, in the next five years, can be developed and figure out what to do and make sure everybody is supportive of it,” Sandoval said.
He said he is hopeful an idea for Fisherman’s Wharf will be presented in the next six months.
The visioning will also include other parcels around the harbor, which Sandoval said include Anacapa Boatyard, the former Whale’s Tail restaurant and a small undeveloped parcel on Harbor Boulevard known as X3. He said plans might also include finding a building for the harbor department and administration, improvements to the Channel Island Sportfishing building and docks and more boater serving uses, such as dry stack storage.
The county will also need to find a developer interested in taking on the project. Channel Islands Harbor Properties still has development rights to Fisherman’s Wharf and Sandoval said they will be involved in the visioning.
“We have to create a vision that a developer will want to develop,” Sandoval said.
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