Slow-Growth Plea Made by Moorpark Residents : Development: The city may annex vacant land sought by builders, whose proposals could double the population.

Concerned about development proposals that could double Moorpark’s population, more than 70 residents gave up their Saturday routines for a hearing on the city’s growth.

Many residents who spoke at the City Council hearing, which lasted from 10 a.m. to midafternoon, urged city officials not to let developers take the lead in determining how, and how fast, Moorpark will grow.

“We do still have a chance to control our own destiny and maintain a semirural environment,” resident Roseanne Mikos told the council. “There’s nothing wrong with Moorpark being a small town.”

City officials are considering annexing up to 6.3 square miles of mostly vacant land where developers have proposed to build 5,500 homes.

Within the current city boundaries, 4,000 new homes are proposed.

Altogether, these and other proposals add up to 10,700 new homes, representing a potential population increase from 26,000 to more than 60,000 over the next 20 years.

Mikos and other residents said they were particularly concerned about a proposal to build 4,800 homes on the hillsides north of Moorpark College.

A spokesman for the Irvine-based Messenger Investment Co., which owns the property, told the City Council last week that the company will try to form a new city on the site if Moorpark doesn’t annex the property.

The new city would have 9,600 homes and a population of 27,200, Messenger spokesman Gary Austin said.

Resident Elizabeth Leaver told council members on Saturday that Messenger’s plan sounded like a threat.

“To me, that is blackmail; to me, that is bullying,” Leaver said. “I urge you to turn down someone that would try to blackmail us.”

The Planning Commission has recommended against any annexation, but council members have said that Moorpark will be able to control development on the 4,000-acre Messenger property if it annexes the site.

Otherwise, Ventura County officials will decide what will be built there.

Mikos said Saturday, however, that county officials may be better than the Moorpark City Council at controlling growth on the tract. “I don’t know who to trust,” she said.

Several residents opposed to the expansion reminded the council that four of the five City Council members are up for reelection in November, a point that was also made in an unsigned flier distributed around town before Saturday’s meeting.

The flier called for residents opposed to expansion to come to the meeting and put their objections in writing.

“You must present these arguments in writing so that if City Council passes these massive growth developments, we can challenge them in court,” the flier said.