County Offers to Buy Land to End Lawsuit
Moving to end a lawsuit over underground fuel contamination, Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously agreed to spend $2.15 million to purchase five acres of land at Oxnard Airport.
The supervisors, meeting behind closed doors to discuss the lawsuit, agreed to buy the property from Oxnard Aero Center as part of a settlement agreement worked out after a year of negotiations.
Oxnard Aero Center contended that fuel tanks at a nearby county-owned parcel leaked pollutants onto their land.
County officials were interested in buying the land before the settlement and expect a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to cover 90% of the cost of the purchase. The remaining portion should be picked up by the firms allegedly responsible for the leaking fuel tanks.
Supervisor John K. Flynn, whose district includes Oxnard Airport, said the land purchase should resolve the long controversy.
“We got property,” Flynn said. “That’s the end of it, period.”
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