MOORPARK : City Ends Legal Fight Over Renewal Funds

The Moorpark City Council this week celebrated the end of two long legal battles, paving the way for major improvements to the city.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Mayor Paul Lawrason signed agreements that removed final roadblocks to both the implementation of the city’s Redevelopment Agency and a long-awaited redesign and expansion of Tierra Rejada Road between Spring Road and the Moorpark Freeway.

“This has been a long, arduous process for all of us,” Lawrason said before signing the agreement between the city and the Ventura County Community College District on the division of proceeds generated by the Redevelopment Agency. District officials signed the agreement Tuesday.

The district, one of five parties that sued Moorpark after it formed the agency in 1989, is the last to come to terms with the city. The agreement paves the way for the agency to use the estimated $319 million it will generate over the next 45 years to improve the city--particularly the downtown area.

Lawrason also signed an agreement with the Camrosa Water District over payments to relocate a pipe that is blocking the Tierra Rejada Road reconstruction.

Improvement of the road has been widely anticipated in the city for years, and Lawrason said the city will be able to seek bids for the roadwork in the spring.

“The road is going to happen,” he said. “We’ve all been waiting for that for a long time.”