1,199 Signatures Reported on Petition : Foes of Moorpark Project Advance

Slow-growth advocates in Moorpark this week took another step in their drive to overturn City Council approval of a massive housing project in this semi-rural but rapidly expanding town.

After a month of going door to door, the Moorpark Committee for Managed Growth has succeeded in collecting 1,199 signatures on petitions opposing the 2,500-unit Mountain Meadows project.

If just 697 of those signatures are verified as those of registered voters, the council will have no choice but to rescind its action approving the project or to submit the issue to voters in November, City Clerk Doris Bankus said Friday.

The signatures, filed with the city clerk’s office Tuesday, could be verified as early as next week, Bankus said.

If enough signatures are verified, the Mountain Meadows issue will join a more sweeping growth-limitation measure already assured of a spot on the November ballot. That measure, also spearheaded by the managed growth group, would place a limit on construction of housing units to 250 a year, excluding projects such as senior-citizen, low-income housing and single-family homes on five acres or more.

Sparks Much Controversy

The slow-growth movement has prompted much debate in this Ventura County community of 15,500, however, and a group has recently formed to counter those who want to put on the brakes.

The Concerned Citizens of Moorpark is made of up people who support the council’s unanimous decision to allow the Mountain Meadows project.

“Our group was formed to challenge the efforts of the Committee for Managed Growth,” said Paul Smith, chairman of the new group.

“Our basic thing is to try to make the people of Moorpark knowledgeable about the issues that are going on so that they can make knowledgeable decisions and be aware of what they are signing,” Smith said. He added that his group consists of “a dozen or so people who receive contributions from 50 to 60 people.”

Nor does the group plan to stop with the Mountain Meadows issue--its leaders clearly are zeroing in on the growth-limit ballot measure as well.

‘It’s Fixed Growth’

“We feel the managed growth group isn’t managed growth; it’s fixed growth,” said Smith, charging the Committee for Managed Growth is not “truly stating the facts, but twisting and misrepresenting some facts.”

“We felt the people of Moorpark were not being thoroughly informed,” he said. “They were able to do what they did with only 10% of the voters. That doesn’t take a lot of work. You can get 10% of the people to sign anything.”

But Clint Harper of the slow-growth group said the committee had a compelling reason for trying to stop the project as well as slow development.

“It’s such an important issue in Moorpark. We feel that the citizens should have the right to vote,” said Harper. “We have severe traffic problems with two unconnected highways and overcrowded schools.”

“In no way does the developer pay for all the complications its huge tract would cause,” added Harper of the Mountain Meadows project.

Extent of Project Told

The project, by Urban West Communities of Santa Monica, calls for as many as 325 homes a year to be built over 12 years. The council granted the project immunity from the slow-growth initiative should voters approve it in November.

The developer is to provide traffic improvements, including a four-lane bridge, school sites and a park. Project proponents are complaining that the threat of a ballot measure on the project will slow the improvements.

In a related development this week, the state Supreme Court ruled that those who want to stop or limit growth through the ballot box can continue to do so but must be prepared to defend their measures in the courts.

Harper said he is unsure what effect that ruling will have on his group’s ballot drives.