Moorpark Agreement : Builder to Drop Suit, Gets to Finish Project

The city of Moorpark will exempt its largest housing tract from growth restrictions in exchange for an agreement by the project’s developer to drop a $17-million lawsuit.

Urban West Communities will be allowed to build 300 homes a year to complete the remaining 1,050 homes planned for its 2,500-home Mountain Meadows project, according to terms of the settlement reached late Wednesday with the Moorpark City Council. About 1,200 homes have been built so far, and the company has permission to build 250 more, city officials said.

Those homes will be exempt from a 1986 law approved by Moorpark voters that restricts building permits for homes to 250 units a year. The growth law was passed to limit traffic and other problems faced by the eastern Ventura County city.

Urban West, which received initial approval for Mountain Meadows from the county in 1981, filed suit earlier this year to exempt the project from the city growth limit, arguing that it had received the necessary approvals prior to passage of Moorpark’s growth law.

In April, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Edwin M. Osbourne ruled in favor of Urban West. But the firm continued to pursue a $17-million damage suit against the city, as well as a second lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the growth law.

Moorpark attorneys had argued unsuccessfully before Osbourne that the city, which incorporated two years after the Mountain Meadows project was approved, should not be bound by contract over future zoning and land use decisions.

In the settlement, the city agreed not to appeal Osbourne’s decision in exchange for Urban West dropping its damage suit and its challenge to the growth law, said Thomas A. Zanic, Urban West vice president.

Urban West also agreed to pay $100,000 for the city’s legal fees in the dispute, as well as loan the city $200,000 more for road and other improvements, Zanic said.

The council voted 3 to 2 for the settlement, with council members Clint Harper and John Galloway dissenting.

Harper said he voted against the settlement because Urban West had asked to be reimbursed for some of the roadwork within five years. Earlier, Urban West had agreed to be paid when the city had the funds available, he said.