MOORPARK : Accord Reached by City, School Board on Dividing Up Site

After more than six hours of negotiations over a former high school site in the downtown area of Moorpark, members of the City Council and the school board worked out a tentative agreement.

The pact reached Thursday night would allow the city to buy the lower fields at the site for a downtown park and allow the school district to develop part of the site.

The school, located on Casey Road, has been at the heart of a two-year dispute between the district and the city, resulting in five lawsuits between them.

“It was a positive meeting,” Supt. Tom Duffy said.

There were some disappointments, “but there was a sense of cooperation,” he said.

Mayor Bernardo Perez said he was pleased with the concessions made by both parties.

The school board came into the negotiation session asking the city to buy the entire 26-acre site, an offer the city had turned down in August. Surprised and angry council members offered to purchase only portions of the site, a proposition the school board had turned down in September.

However, after two closed sessions with their attorney, board members returned to the meeting, saying they would consider parceling off portions of the property to the city and the Moorpark Boys and Girls Club for about $2.2 million, if the district could generate $6.3 million with a development on the site.

The assessed valuation of the entire property is $8.5 million.

The city has said it will only allow 120 housing units on the property. City and school district officials plan to meet with the developer to determine if $6.3 million could be generated by developing the upper portion of the site.