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Skating center operators seek new site
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More from Local NewsTrapped in an aging facility in a neighborhood scheduled for demolition, the operators of Oxnard's ice skating center are working to move it to Camarillo.
Board members of the Channel Islands Ice Center have held preliminary talks with the owner of a parcel near Home Depot off Highway 101 in west Camarillo, and also have talked with Camarillo officials, said Jim Meaney, one of the center's board members. The parcel is about 7.5 miles east of the skating center's current location.
"To grow the program, we need a new facility," Meaney said.
He called the current center, in the nearly deserted Wagon Wheel area, a "rundown building in a rundown area."
But before the center can move, board members must raise $8 million. A campaign to raise the money will soon get under way, Meaney said. One idea is to auction naming rights to the center. Meaney said he also hopes the Camarillo Redevelopment Agency can offer some financial assistance.
The center is jointly owned by the Channel Islands Riptide Hockey Club and the Channel Islands Figure Skating Club, which bought the facility in August to keep it from closing.
The center is a regional facility that serves 10,000 to 15,000 people a month from across the county and as far away as Bakersfield, Meaney said.
Camarillo is interested in having the center, according to City Manager Jerry Bankston. "They have good numbers in terms of youth hockey groups and a good number of them are from Camarillo," he said.
The only other ice skating center in the county is in Simi Valley.
The Oxnard center is on a short lease at its current location. Meaney said the center wants to have a new home within two years.
Posted by vc1977 on July 23, 2008 at 7:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good Luck!! I hope you raise the funds and have a great rink! Maybe we can have another Michelle Kwan from Ventura County!
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