Council Supports Business Incubator

CAMARILLO — The Camarillo City Council has thrown its support behind plans to open a business incubator at Camarillo Airport to help launch companies and create jobs.

Mayor David M. Smith agreed to write a letter to the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County asking for $335,000 in start-up money for the project, which is spearheaded by Camarillo businessman Wally Boeck.

The idea is to give new businesses the chance to build a strong client base before they lease office space of their own.

The incubator would feature a series of workstations, telephone and facsimile lines and computer hookups at reasonable rates.

“The purpose is to help new business develop and become successful,” Smith said. “It costs less, and there are services available that most businesses don’t have available at a reasonable cost.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo has headed separate efforts to qualify Ventura County for as much as $2 million in business development grants from the federal government.

The federal grant money would be administered by the collaborative.

Schillo said Thursday that he supports the Camarillo business incubator concept, but it is too soon to commit to the idea because incubators sometimes cost more money than they generate.

“We do not want to have a taint of failure, so we want to take it slowly and make sure it’s done properly,” Schillo said. “I’m in favor of the concept. We just have to work out the details.”