Moorpark Planner Stresses Crowd Control

Jim Aguilera, Moorpark’s new director of community development, realized the importance of careful planning as a college student in the early 1970s, researching the effects of overcrowding on rats.

Under normal circumstances, the animals lived together without conflict, said Aguilera, who started work this week. “But in crowding conditions, they turn on themselves.”

That early lesson has endured over Aguilera’s nearly 20-year career in public planning, and caused him to see city development as more than deciding how many homes to allow per acre, how many square feet per home.

“What struck my interest was that planners have a great deal to do with shaping our environment and thereby shaping our psyche,” he said. “And I thought that getting into the field would give me the opportunity to have a positive effect.”

And now, as the man who will oversee development in Moorpark at a time when a newly adopted General Plan could nearly double the number of homes in the city, Aguilera said he will keep a careful watch on the environment Moorpark creates for itself.

“The impact is felt through setback requirements, aesthetic requirements on buildings, the requirements that allow light and ventilation, things like open space,” Aguilera said. “And, of course, landscaping is very important in softening the hardscape of the buildings.”

After graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1974, Aguilera worked for the cities of Santa Ana, South El Monte and El Paso before joining the city of Colton as planning director in 1981. The Inland Empire community at that time had a population of 21,000 residents. It now numbers 42,000 and has exhausted its potential for growth.

Which is one of the reasons Aguilera decided to apply for the planning director job in Moorpark after Patrick J. Richards resigned abruptly in April.

“I like working in small municipalities and I was interested in Moorpark because of its growth potential. I’m not the kind of person who likes a caretaker’s job. I want work to do,” he said.

Aguilera also found the climate and atmosphere in Moorpark preferable to what he had experienced farther inland and thought his wife and two sons would agree. By carefully controlling the way Moorpark grows, Aguilera said, he hopes to ward off the infrastructure problems that he experienced in Colton.

“Uncontrolled growth, as has happened in the Inland Empire, outpaces the social controls, the police controls, that cities can provide,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a matter of progress passing us by, it’s a matter of us being able to control and manage that progress.”

Moorpark City Manager Steve Kueny said Aguilera was chosen from among a broad field of applicants because of his strong planning background and an orientation toward customer service that the city had lacked.

For his part, Aguilera said customer service is one of his highest priorities. He hopes to institute a public feedback form to help keep tabs on how the department of eight employees is doing.

“We in community development are in the business of saying no. Someone wants to build an addition too close to a ridge line, we say no, “ he said. “Someone wants a higher density, we say no. But even though we are in the business of saying no, it’s how we say it that can make a difference.”

First up for Aguilera as he settles into his new position will be to begin processing the five Specific Plans included in the city’s newly adopted General Plan. As he does, Aguilera said, he will try and make sure the city derives every potential benefit from the developers looking to do business in Moorpark.

“I think Moorpark is in an excellent location and really is in the driver’s seat,” he said. “Developers and development want to come to Moorpark, and I think we should be cognizant of that fact and not give the store away, because we don’t need to.”