MOORPARK : Loan Considered to Install Stadium Seats

Despite threatened cuts in state education funding, the board of the Moorpark Unified School District today will consider taking out a loan for up to $530,000 to complete a new athletic stadium.

Supt. Thomas Duffy said Tuesday that he will ask the board to consider getting a loan for installing stadium seating at the new athletic field at Moorpark High School.

District officials said they would expect to be reimbursed for the amount of the loan by a community group that has been raising money for the stadium.

The group, called the Moorpark Athletic Community Complex Committee, has so far raised only about $40,000, said Patty Waters, the committee’s coordinator.

However, Urban West Communities, a Santa Monica-based developer, recently contributed an additional $365,000 to the district that could be used for the stadium, school officials said. In addition, Urban West has pledged to contribute another $215,000 next year.

Board President Tom Baldwin said he is concerned about the district taking on a substantial financial liability at a time when the state is considering drastically reducing education funding.

“What happens if the (the community group) can’t raise anything and it’s left to the school district to pay the bill?” he said.

The committee has been negotiating with a stadium company to install 6,000 bleacher seats for $530,000. But if the district takes over the financing, it will put the construction project out to bid and may get a better offer, Baldwin said.

Moorpark school officials are under pressure to get the new high school stadium completed as soon as possible, he said.

The high school’s football team now plays in the stadium at the school’s former site at 280 Casey Road, which the district wants to sell or lease to a housing developer.

In addition, seating at the old stadium is inadequate. Most of those attending football games have to stand, Baldwin said.

The new stadium will be the first part of a planned $3-million athletic complex at the high school that will include a nine-lane running track, two baseball fields, an Olympic-size pool, and a field house.