Plan Faces November Test : Moorpark Will Vote on Growth Curbs

The Moorpark City Council, declining to adopt a citizens’ petition to restrict residential growth in the city to 250 units annually, has placed the controversial measure on the November general-election ballot.

The unanimous vote Monday night to put the initiative before voters in the fall came after 601 petition signatures, representing 10% of the city’s registered voters, were verified by Ventura County election officials. Members of the Committee for Managed Growth collected 994 signatures by walking door-to-door.

Dual Options

Certification of the petitions left the council with the choice of adopting the measure or placing it before voters.

The decision to put the proposal on the November ballot rather than the June primary reflected strong council opposition to a fixed limit on housing expansion in the city of 15,000, which was incorporated in mid-1983.

Supporters of the measure wanted a June initiative, contending that a longer campaign period would favor their likely opponents, developers and merchants, by giving them time to wage an expensive media campaign.

Supporters of the housing limit have argued that rapid growth threatens to overrun city services and compromise the area’s semi-rural life style. But several council members oppose the limit, saying it would slice into developers’ contributions for building roads and schools.

The proposed initiative, patterned after growth curbs in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, would exempt subsidized housing for low-income residents, projects of five or fewer units and houses on at least five acres.