MOORPARK : Last Redevelopment Lawsuit Is Settled

In a move that paves the way for a revitalization of downtown Moorpark, city officials announced Monday that they have settled the last of the lawsuits filed after the city’s redevelopment agency was formed in 1989.

The resolution will allow the agency to start using some of the about $319 million that it will earn over 45 years to improve the city.

“We’re obviously thrilled,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said of the settlement with the Ventura County Community College District, the last of the five parties that sued over the division of agency tax proceeds to settle.

The City Council, in one of its first acts as the redevelopment board, last week agreed to spend $800,000 in redevelopment proceeds to buy a former rail yard from the Ventura County Transportation Commission. The strip on the south side of High Street includes the Metrolink parking lot.

“It’s a tremendous relief to me personally, knowing that we can get out from the tremendous burden of litigation and cost and get the agency moving to do the work what we know it can do,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

Jeff Marsee, vice chancellor of administrative services for the college district, was the district’s negotiator in settlement talks. Marsee was not available for comment Monday, but last week he acknowledged that the sides had virtually settled their differences.

The college district will use part of its redevelopment proceeds to build a new performing arts center at Moorpark College, Marsee said.

Montgomery said a flurry of phone calls late last week brought the city and the district to agreement, with only the legal language of the settlement left to be worked out.