Concerns Raised About School Site

A gas well sits below and oil wells sit nearby the proposed site of the Juan Laguna Soria elementary school, two local attorneys say.

Oxnard-based attorneys Frederick Rosenmund and Richard Tentler told the Oxnard Elementary School District earlier this month that they are concerned about oil and gas wells on and near the proposed site--12 acres on a sod field in the Lemonwood neighborhood.

At tonight’s school board meeting, public comment on the proposed site will be heard.

“You can’t put a school where there has been oil production and there is an abandoned oil well,” Tentler said Tuesday. “It is certainly a safety hazard that has to be properly investigated.”

This is not the first concern expressed about the proposed site. Also opposed are environmentalists and a neighboring landowner who say that children could be exposed to pesticides used on nearby strawberry fields. And although the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiatives allow school districts to build on protected farmland, environmentalists complain that doing so will cause even more sprawl.

Supt. Richard Duarte maintains that the site is safe from pesticides, oil and gas well hazards.

The public will be allowed to comment on the proposed site and the Environmental Impact Report at a school board meeting at 7 tonight at the district office, 1051 S. A St.