Plisky Outlines Plans for Greater Oxnard EDC

In his coming term as chairman of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp., former Oxnard City Councilman Michael Plisky said he will work to make the organization self-sufficient.

The EDC, established to attract businesses to Oxnard and Port Hueneme and retain businesses already in the region, originally was run by the city of Oxnard. It became a private, nonprofit organization in 1994, but 80% of its $340,000 annual overhead is still funded by the city.

Plisky, who has served on the EDC board for three years, said he has heard more than a few suggestions about how to eliminate the need for city funds.

“One would be to acquire some property and become a landlord. Another would be to gain fees for some of our services,” said Plisky, who also served on the EDC board from 1984 to 1988, when it was run by the city of Oxnard. “We are looking at property deals that would generate some revenue.”

Aside from the internal development, Plisky said the new year will be spent building upon the business development strides the EDC has taken since 1994.

“We are going to step up our activity to generate new business activity, not only in Oxnard, but what we can’t coax to Oxnard, we will turn over to other cities and hopefully benefit from it,” said Plisky, who is vice president of the Oxnard Harbor District. “We are primarily interested in spurring the economy and generating jobs for a long, long time.”

Plisky is familiar with the needs of the Oxnard area, having served on the Oxnard City Council from 1984 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1994. He also served as president of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce from 1983 to 1984.

During his first term on the City Council, Plisky said, the city tried to spur business expansion by laying the infrastructure for two industrial parks--the 1,400-acre Pacific Commerce Center (formerly the Northeast Industrial Park) and the 211-acre Channel Islands Business Center.

The Pacific Commerce Center, bordered by 5th Street, Rose Avenue, Del Norte Boulevard and the Ventura Freeway, is partly developed. The Channel Islands Business Center, between Wooley Road and the Pacific Coast Highway, is all developed except for 75 acres. Both parks, Plisky said, still offer valuable growth potential for the city.

“It’s just a matter of luring business out there, and that’s the role of the EDC,” he said. “Those two parks are considered a major asset as far as any future business interest.”

EDC President Steve Kinney, who handles the day-to-day operations, said the organization is contacted daily about the possible relocation of businesses to Ventura County.

“It’s really pretty active right now,” he said. “I’ve got no complaints about the number of contacts coming in here, both through brokers and directly through company contacts.”

One thing Kinney would like to see in the coming year, he said, would be a more extensive outreach program.

“We are so small, virtually all of our time is consumed dealing with contacts that come to us,” said Kinney, who heads a staff of three. “In an ideal world, we would not only deal with the contacts coming to us, but we would also be shaping our own future more proactively, targeting companies and going after them. That’s an area of improvement or additional service we can get into over the months ahead.”

As chairman, Plisky replaces George Lauterbach, owner of Lauterbach & Associates Architects/Planners, who had served as head of the EDC board since 1994.

Others elected to the 1997 board are Vice Chairman Armando Lopez of Pacific Ag Expo; Treasurer Stephen Woodworth, owner of Channel Islands Equities; Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez and Councilman Dean Maulhardt.