MOORPARK : Conservancy, County to Sign Park Pact

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Ventura County are scheduled to sign an agreement today that will allow the opening of the 3,700-acre Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park near Moorpark.

The agreement would form the Eastern Ventura County Conservation Authority, which will operate the county-owned park beginning Aug. 30, a conservancy spokeswoman said.

The agreement is scheduled to be signed at 3 p.m. at the East Valley Sheriff’s Station in Simi Valley.

The mountainous park, which is known for its horse trails, was obtained by the county in a land swap with the state in the late 1970s, said Rorie Skei, program manager of the state Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Because of budget restraints, the county never developed or operated the land as a park, she said. The county kept the land closed to visitors because it could not afford the liability of operating a major regional park, Skei said.

Under the agreement, the state, which oversees the conservancy, would take over liability and operation of the park, Skei said.

The opening of the park was delayed for several months by a debate over the park’s entrance. The conservancy pushed for access off Broadway, an east-west road that intersects the land midway through the bottom 700 acres.

But representatives of Quor Inc. of Encino, which has an option to build on part of the parkland, wanted hikers and horseback riders to enter farther north, off Happy Camp Road, so they would not interfere with future construction.

The county, which has final say, decided on the Broadway entrance.