CONCERNS ABOUT BASE MOUNT COMMUNITY FEARS LOSING MORE THAN 6,000 JOBS.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

Ventura County's coastal communities could lose more than 6,000 high-paying jobs under the Department of Defense restructuring proposed last month - nearly twice as many as initially projected, officials said Wednesday.

The plan would cut employment by more than one-third at Naval Base Ventura County, transferring jobs from the base's Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu to the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake in the Kern County desert.

``It is the worst of scenarios,'' said Bill Simmons, manager of the BRAC 2005 Ventura County Task Force, which is reviewing recommendations the Pentagon made last month to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

``We stand to lose up to 6,300 direct and indirect high-paying jobs, but we won't have the opportunity to redevelop the land if the current recommendations are implemented,'' he said.

Officials initially estimated that Ventura County would lose 1,550 military and 1,900 civilian jobs.

Ventura County officials said the greater potential job loss became apparent after closer review of documents released by the Department of Defense last month.

In a task force meeting with community leaders at Camarillo City Hall on Wednesday evening, a standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people - most of them military employees - voiced their concerns over possible relocation to the China Lake area.

Simmons said the military recommendations could result in a potential loss of 2,856 military and civil service jobs and 3,517 contractor jobs in Ventura County.

Naval Base Ventura County represents the county's largest employer, with about 17,000 workers on the base and contributing about $1.2 billion a year to the local economy.

County officials said they will attend the federal BRAC Commission hearing - expected to be held in Southern California on July 14 - to make the case that the Ventura County changes would be detrimental to the military.

``I think it is urgent that the community get engaged and understand the impact. We need help from the community to raise funds and make sure we have a strong position when we come in front of the BRAC Commission in July,'' Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long said.

Jack Dodd, former vice commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu, said there are important military arguments against some of the proposed changes.

``Realigning Point Mugu's sea range, targets, test squadron and electronic warfare personnel and facilities to China Lake would cost millions of dollars, would reduce operational efficiencies, would reduce safety of operations and, most importantly, would negatively impact the ability of our war fighters, our men and women in uniform, to perform their missions,'' he said.

``We simply cannot let these recommendations stand.''

Simmons said another major drawback to employment under the proposed changes is that it prevents new development on the land.

``Normally what happens is that developers can turn (closed) bases into useful projects, business parks, universities, you name it. Now we're talking about losing jobs while the Navy is still holding onto the land,'' he said. ``So the community cannot turn it into revenue-producing land and have opportunity for economic rebound.''

Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said her office will be reviewing all reports very closely. ``We're always very concerned about the impact of base closures on local communities,'' he said.

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com