Litton Kills Its Plans for Moorpark : Defense: The major company will abandon the plant that was to be expanded to house 1,500 Data Systems employees.

In the latest setback to the Ventura County economy, a major defense contractor has abandoned plans to move a 1,500-employee division into a plant in Moorpark, now scheduled to be closed later this year.

Litton Industries, the second-largest employer in Moorpark, announced last year that it would move its 600-employee Aero Products Division from Ventura County, but had planned to replace that group with an even larger work force.

Officials at the giant defense firm have now told city officials, however, that they have decided to abandon their Moorpark plant instead of going forward with the previously planned expansion.

The company, which plans to move its Aero Products Division to Canoga Park, said it no longer intends to move its 1,500-employee Data Systems group to the Moorpark facility, where it had planned to build a large addition.

Instead, the company will move its Data Systems group to a vacant Agoura Hills facility, saving millions of dollars in construction costs.

Moorpark city officials and business leaders said they were surprised and disturbed by the news. Some predicted a community protest against the company’s decision.

“We’re in love with this company and we’re in love with the image of this company,” said Ric Carrott, former owner of Egg City. “The community cannot be expected to sit back and accept the decision” lightly, he said.

The company’s 600 employees currently working in Moorpark provide a steady source of revenues to restaurant owners, dry cleaners and other merchants in the city’s struggling downtown business district, officials said. Besides the impact on merchants, the city will lose sales taxes.

But officials said the city will lose a lot more than tax revenues when the company moves from the plant where it has produced electronic aircraft systems since 1984.

Litton is one of only a handful of high-profile companies in Moorpark, which include Tandy Corp. and Kavlico Corp. Litton’s 750 employees make it the city’s largest employer.

“A loss of any one of those is critical to a small town like Moorpark,” said John W. Newton, a local real estate consultant and Chamber of Commerce board member.

The presence of such high-profile companies are important to attracting other industry, which has been a high priority for this mainly bedroom community, officials said.

“Litton was a prestigious business to have here and it gave Moorpark credibility” for companies considering locating in the city, Chamber of Commerce President Robert Abrams said.

In addition to hurting business, Litton’s departure is “going to have a major impact on social programs,” Abrams said.

The company and its employees contributed $53,378 in 1991 to United Way of Ventura County, said the agency’s marketing director, Sylvia Schnopp.

The company also contributed money and services, such as printing brochures and flyers, to many Moorpark community organizations, including the local Boys & Girls Club, Little League, soccer teams and other youth activities.

“They touched everything,” Newton said.

Besides the corporate donations, company employees regularly volunteered for local community events, he said, adding that he hopes that an outpouring of community sentiment might change the company’s decision.

Litton spokesman Dirk Koerber said, however, that the decision is final.

“With the defense outlook the way it is,” there is no sense for the company to spend millions of dollars building new facilities, such as the addition planned for Moorpark, he said.

In addition, Litton has already begun moving employees of its Data Systems division, which manufactures command systems for the armed forces, to the Agoura Hills facility.

Litton will probably lease or sell the existing 140,000-square-foot Moorpark plant, he said, adding that he doesn’t see any chance of the company relocating to Moorpark in the future.

“I don’t want to generate hopes,” he said.

Mayor Paul W. Lawrason Jr., who works at a Northridge-based aerospace and electronics firm, said he doubts a community protest could cause company officials to change their minds.

“I’m also in the corporate world,” Lawrason said. “I can understand why they made a decision” to consolidate their operations.