MOORPARK : City Council Seeks to Reassure Planners

In a rare joint meeting between the Moorpark City Council and the city’s Planning Commission, council members sought Monday to reassure the commissioners that they have an important role in the city’s planning process.

Council members told commissioners that they see the Planning Commission’s job as screening development proposals before they reach the council. “Our workload would be quadrupled if it wasn’t for the commission,” Councilman Roy E. Talley said.

The two agencies held the meeting in response to the commissioners’ surprise announcement last month that they will consider recommending the dissolution of the commission.

Commissioners said they are frustrated that the council appears to give little weight to their recommendations on planning issues. They also complained that their recommendations on planning issues are sometimes lost in translation in the staff reports to the City Council.

As a solution, Councilman Scott Montgomery suggested that one planning commissioner attend each council meeting where the city’s elected leaders review a commission’s recommendation.

The Planning Commission’s frustration stems mainly from council actions on two recent highly publicized planning issues. The commission’s approval of a paint-ball game site in a residential neighborhood was overturned by the council after residents vociferously protested the commission’s recommendation.

The city is also considering the annexation of up to 6.3 square miles of land where developers have proposed building 5,500 homes, perhaps the biggest planning decision ever to face Moorpark officials. However, planning commissioners have said they don’t feel their voice is being heard on that issue.

The commission spent more than 30 hours in meetings studying the expansion and ultimately recommended against it. The council then began its own set of public hearings on the question. Planning commissioners complained that the City Council appeared to be duplicating their work.