MOORPARK : Developers File Suit in Zoning Dispute

Developers who own a 497-acre parcel in Moorpark have filed suit against the city, claiming a change in zoning has denied them use of their land and the ability to profit from their investment.

Partners in the Carlsberg property want city officials to either allow them to develop the land on the southeastern edge of Moorpark or pay them market value for the land and other expenses.

Conejo Freeway Properties Ltd. and Simi-Moorpark Freeway Properties Ltd., co-owners of the Carlsberg property, filed the suit in Ventura County Superior Court late last month.

Zoning on the land in 1986 would have permitted them to build 795 housing units. However, a change in zoning regulations later that year “stripped the Carlsberg Property of the development potential” by permitting less than 500 units, the suit said.

In October, 1990, city officials told the developers that they could build only 405 units on the land, the suit said.

The suit alleges that Carlsberg has lost more than $7 million, including $600,000 on planning and consulting fees and that the developers have been denied $40 million that they expected to earn from the property by now.