MOORPARK : Landscape Charges Stir Up Confusion

A proposal by Moorpark officials to begin charging landscape maintenance fees to homeowners in an adjacent unincorporated community set off a panic among residents who thought that the city was trying to annex their neighborhood.

About 15 residents of Home Acres, a rural community of 209 homes just west of Moorpark, came to the City Council meeting this week to protest what they thought was an attempt to incorporate their neighborhood into the city.

One resident presented a petition signed by more than 50 of his neighbors.

Cause of the confusion was a notice mailed by the city saying the council would consider annexing Home Acres into the city’s assessment district for landscaping and lighting maintenance.

“The word annex sends up an immediate red flag and incites people to riot,” Home Acres resident Marcus Weise told the council Wednesday.

The city has proposed to charge each Home Acres property owner $50.24 per year for maintaining a three-acre open space area at the end of Dalaway Drive.

The open space will serve as a buffer zone between Home Acres and a planned 525-acre housing tract called West Village. City officials arrived at the idea for the buffer zone after six years of meetings with Home Acres residents and county officials.

Once Home Acres residents understand that the city does not plan to annex the area, they will probably agree with the fee, Weise said.

The council is scheduled to vote on the matter later this month.