Undeveloped Park Angers Neighbors : Oxnard: The city has the money to build on the site, which was donated in 1981. But it lacks the funds for maintenance.

On the drawing boards of Oxnard city planners, Windsor North Park is a public recreation area with a playground, exercise equipment, a basketball court, horseshoe pits and picnic tables.

In reality, the undeveloped park is a fenced-in, three-acre clump of barren land in north Oxnard’s affluent River Ridge neighborhood, one of the many casualties of the city’s budget crunch.

And while not unsympathetic to the city’s budget woes, neighbors say they are tired of waiting for their park.

“I don’t enjoy waking up every morning and having to look at dirt,” said Kay Frederick, who lives across the street from the park. “The city reneged on its commitment. They promised a park, and we never got it.”

In 1981, Strathmore Homes of Oxnard donated a vacant lot at the corner of Bevra Avenue and Spyglass Terrace, in exchange for approval to build 460 residences around the city-owned River Ridge golf course.

The city set aside $400,000 in developer fees to build a park there, but the project never got off the ground.

For years, Oxnard officials refused to accept a deed to the land because an underground gasoline tank was discovered, and the city did not want to pay for its removal and cleanup of leftover toxic material.

That problem was solved last October when the developer agreed to pick up the tab, but by then, a new roadblock had emerged.

Faced with a $4-million budget deficit, Oxnard last September put a lid on park development until money could be found to maintain new parks.

Windsor North Park was the first project to fall under the moratorium. In recent months, two more park projects in north Oxnard have been halted.

“We feel bad because we’d like to build a park, but we don’t know how to maintain it,” said city Parks Supt. Michael Henderson.

With landscape irrigation, basketball court repairs, trash collection and bathroom cleanup, it would cost the city $18,000 a year to keep Windsor Park in top shape, Henderson said.

“It’s Catch-22. If we don’t build a park, we leave an eyesore. But if we build it and can’t maintain it, the park becomes a health hazard.”

Oxnard’s General Plan calls for three acres of open space for every 1,000 residents, but the city is more than 100 acres behind in meeting that goal. And the moratorium is sure to put the city even more in the hole.

Richard McNish, owner of Strathmore Homes, has volunteered to pay for maintenance of the park for a year, if the city agrees to form an assessment district and require neighbors to pay for maintenance after that.

But the city has yet to act on his offer. “We appreciate the developer’s offer, but we are involved in so many things because of budget complications, and the Windsor North Park issue hasn’t really surfaced,” said Parks and Recreation Director Gary Davis.

“I suspect the City Council will look at assessment districts in the next few months as it studies revenue-enhancement possibilities.”

The idea of their paying for park maintenance instead of the city does not thrill River Ridge residents. Each homeowner already is assessed an annual $228 fee for landscaping improvements along Vineyard Avenue, Patterson Road and Gonzales Road.

“It’s too bad we have that piece of property just lying there, and we’d like to see a park, but we already pay too many taxes,” said Bill Kervin, who lives half a block from the empty lot.