Murdock Will Keep Promise to Residents, Associate Says : Lake Sherwood: The development firm says it will provide free water and sewer systems to longtime homeowners.

A representative of billionaire David H. Murdock, developer of a 1,900-acre country club and housing project at Lake Sherwood, has assured Ventura County officials that Murdock’s company will honor its promises to provide free sewer and water systems to longtime residents of the area.

Donald Trotter, president of the Murdock company that is building the country club, made the assurances to county Deputy Public Works Director John Crowley this week, Crowley said.

They followed news reports about complaints by residents that the developer was trying to renege on his promises and that the county grand jury, as part of a broader investigation of the Murdock project, was looking into the matter.

The Murdock company’s commitment to Lake Sherwood homeowners will be put in writing within the next month, Crowley said, as part of the developer’s proposal to form a special district to tax all of the area’s property owners for perhaps $20 million in improvements that Murdock has made around the lake.

Under the proposal, sewer and water fees assessed against the current 120 homeowners would be paid by the developer, Crowley said.

Those free services for longtime homeowners were stated or implied conditions of the County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the Sherwood Country Club project in 1987, Crowley said. “But as far as I know, there’s no binding agreement at this point,” he added.

Carl Price, president of the Lake Sherwood Community Assn., welcomed the assurances.

“That’s what they promised if we would support their project,” said Price, whose organization represents about three-fourths of lake-area homeowners. “I just wish we would have heard a firm commitment from the county and the developer earlier.”

The issue of who will pay for the sewer and water systems has been raised recently because of the Murdock company’s request to the county that it be allowed to form the special assessment district.

Another controversial element of the same proposal has been the developer’s assertion that his 1987 agreement to dedicate Lake Sherwood itself to the people who buy his luxury homes was not a commitment to give it away.

Murdock wants taxes against area property owners--both the 650 at his country club and the 120 outside of it--to repay him for the millions of dollars he has spent to fill the once-empty lake and to repair and improve it.

“The only issue left is the lake,” Crowley said.

County administrators and lawyers huddled this week to try to decide how to respond on the lake dedication issue. They have reviewed letters, records and tape-recordings of meetings to determine Murdock’s intent at the time of dedication. They have said they probably will decide Monday whether to challenge his position.

The county is in a good position, Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg said, because none of the country club houses can be sold until county planners file documents with the state Department of Real Estate.

Both Murdock’s commitments to area residents and his pledge to dedicate Lake Sherwood are being investigated by the grand jury, county officials and lake residents said earlier this week.

The grand jury also has questioned lake-area residents about Murdock’s relationship with county officials, residents said.

On Thursday, the grand jury reported that a Murdock employee--the only voter in an election to authorize taxes for maintenance within the country club development--had voted illegally in January. He had moved from the site before voting, the jury said.

As a result, the district attorney’s office has begun a separate criminal probe into possible election fraud.