MOORPARK : Home Builder Seeks OK to Plan Project

Messenger Investment Co., the Irvine-based developer that has proposed building more than 3,000 homes on land it owns northeast of Moorpark, may come before the City Council next week to seek an official nod to begin planning the project.

Gary Austin, Messenger vice president, said he is seeking a memorandum of understanding between his firm and the city that would outline the developer’s intentions and fees the city will require of the firm, before planning begins.

Austin said he has been told that the matter is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday’s council meeting, and Mayor Paul Lawrason said the memorandum could be heard then if city staff’s review of the document proceeds smoothly.

Council approval of the agreement would be the first step in a process that could lead to the annexation of Messenger’s roughly 4,000 acres to Moorpark and the construction of nearly 3,200 homes, a golf course, equestrian center and retail-commercial area.

“It’s a letter of intent, signed by both parties, saying, ‘This is where we’re going from here,’ ” Austin said. “If we’re going to embark upon the next step in this process, we would like to start off with some kind of understanding.”

If the council were to approve the memorandum, Messenger and the city would jointly ask the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission to expand Moorpark’s sphere of influence to include the land. If that request were successful, a formal application for annexation would follow.

“They’re intending to go ahead, and the city is intending to support their activities to make a request to LAFCO and to move forward to expand the sphere of influence,” Lawrason said.

While the memorandum would formally notify the city of Messenger’s plan to proceed, it also would require a cash payment from Messenger to the city.

Austin said the city is seeking a $25,000 deposit from Messenger against any processing costs and an additional onetime payment because the company did not help pay for the city’s recent General Plan update. Although its land was included in the plan, Messenger did not pay fees that other property owners paid because its parcel is outside city limits. The council decided to include the property because of the likelihood of the project eventually going forward.

The onetime payment would be about $100,000, Austin and city officials said.

Austin said Messenger expects to spend between $750,000 and $1 million in consultant and processing fees for the Specific Plan, environmental impact report, development agreement and annexation of the land.