The Cowboys’ upcoming training camp has cast an unwelcome shadow for several Southern California locals, who hired attorneys and filed a complaint to the city of Oxnard this week after the team built a tall, temporary structure inches from their properties without notice, they told The Dallas Morning News.
Until mid-August, the team will use the tent-like platform to entertain special guests during camp practices in Oxnard, a club spokesperson said. Neighbors whose backyards border the white-tarped deck said the project has compromised their security and privacy, obstructed a view for which they paid a premium, blocked essential garden sunlight and ultimately reduced their home value.
Issues with construction workers also were reported.
Although foundation assembly on the hospitality platform began in June, not until July 1 did the project’s scale become clear to neighbors. That weekend, several workers installed wood flooring a few inches above five properties’ back walls.
“To wake up on a Saturday with your pajamas on and there’s a whole bunch of men looking [in from] outside, that’s very disrespectful,” resident Shalea Thompson said. “My daughter and I were in our pajamas, and we had to run upstairs because there were a whole bunch of men peering into our house, maybe not on purpose but still. No one knew there was going to be a structure built. …
“We’re just not thrilled, and we’re going to do whatever we’ve got to do because at the end of the day, I’m sure [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones wouldn’t allow someone to build on the back of his home, either.”
The Cowboys will begin their 17th training camp in Oxnard since 2001 when players and coaches arrive there July 24. Dirt once surrounded their two practice fields, but times have changed.
For a third straight camp, a 152-unit housing village sits along the south field’s length and behind both fields’ east end zones. The development presents an intimate but delicate dynamic between the NFL club and neighborhood.
To navigate, the Cowboys have strived to build goodwill within the gated community, called The Gallery at River Ridge. Director of Cowboys security Cable Johnson keeps an open line of communication with Sergio Becerra-Casillas, the Gallery’s HOA president. He supplies residents his direct contact information and meets with them before camp each year to address and mitigate concerns.
The 2023 meeting, originally scheduled for last Wednesday, was postponed because of a schedule conflict with city officials, Becerra-Casillas told residents in a private Facebook post. Multiple city officials did not return The News’ requests for comment.
In a 2022 article, dozens of residents described the overall arrangement to The News as a net positive, any complaints minor or limited in scope. Noise, traffic and public trespassing to view a popular 2021 practice against the Los Angeles Rams were the most common grievances. Many residents shrugged off such inconvenience as a worthwhile exchange for the novelty of having the Cowboys next door a few weeks each summer.
For those directly impacted, the surprise structure on the south field has shifted sentiment.
“We’ve been dealing with the noise,” Clarence Thompson said. “We understand they have to play their music for the players, and we’ve been nice about it. We haven’t complained about it being like a rock concert out there. So, we’ve been nice. I think the Cowboys took our kindness as weakness, and they kind of crossed a line.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, these neighbors. They don’t care. We can do whatever we want. We can erect about a 30-foot structure from the ground up, and then we’ll build a tent.’ It obstructs our entire view from two floors.”
The News obtained a complaint to the city of Oxnard that attorney Eric Hawes filed Wednesday on behalf of nine residents from five households. In the document, Hawes accused the Cowboys of having started construction on a structure “on the lot line with no setback and without a building permit or a special use permit.”
A Cowboys spokesperson said Friday the city of Oxnard has approved all plans and requested the white covering be added to the structure in response to residents’ privacy concerns. These tents were added July 10. While the tents do increase privacy, neighbors said they received an eyesore as a result.
Warner Cutbill is a Cowboys fan who usually counts down the days until training camp. He hangs a Cowboys flag from a second-story window, keeping it there throughout camp. He adjusts his work schedule to observe practices from his backyard patio.
This summer is different. On July 2, he purchased and installed a Ring security camera to monitor his backyard, concerned that someone — an encampment of unsheltered residents is nearby — might stroll up the structure’s unguarded staircase and enter his yard overnight.
He is not satisfied with the now-tented structure.
“It’s horrendous,” said Cutbill, whose backyard view is partially blocked by the structure. “I don’t see any of my plants surviving this. ... I was so excited for this camp to come up. Now, I wish it was gone at a certain point almost. I can’t see myself being excited to go out there and watch at all. I just want to get away at this point.”
Cutbill said the workers were “a little intimidating.”
He recorded cell-phone video of one blowing sawdust into a neighbor’s yard and another of one sitting on a ledge while facing a neighbor’s home. He sent to Johnson and The News a Ring camera video that shows a worker shouting an expletive insult Monday after, Cutbill said, his brother requested for the workers to no longer stare into their home. Cutbill also said a worker falsely reported to police that someone from Cutbill’s home sprayed workers with a water hose and tried to undo the structure.
He offered to show officers his Ring camera footage. They said that wouldn’t be necessary. The matter was dropped.
Cutbill does not plan to hang his Cowboys flag this year.
“It’s just tough because I kind of feel betrayed,” he said.
Michelle Payne previously enjoyed working out with the Cowboys during training camp, imitating some of their stretches and plyometric movements from a second-story window in her home. When she looks outside before training camp, she sees a white tent.
No field. No golf course.
“You would have to be in my house and see this to believe it or understand the impact of it,” Payne said. “That is definitely not an overstatement. It’s like a big plastic whiteout unless I go upstairs, and even then, half of the window is whited out. …
“I’m trying to figure out where to fly to get out of here, so you can actually see the sky. I’m actually looking at flights now. Of course, it’s the cost to incur to do it all, but this is my summer, and this is my life. By the time this all comes down, it’s going to be in August.”
All four neighbors who spoke to The News about the structure expressed concern about the impact the structure will have on their home value. Specifically, they’d need to disclose the structure to any prospective buyer, detailing how a large shadow might be cast several weeks any summer the Cowboys are in town.
All four said they believe they would feel better about the situation if the Cowboys communicated it proactively.
The Cowboys will hold their first camp practice July 26.
A white-tented viewing platform will create a beautiful sightline for those not on the other side of it.
“I’d like to unzip it when Jerry is here and say, ‘Jerry, how rude,’ ” Payne said.
