Builder Weighs Sale of Land on L.A. County Line to Parks Agency : Housing: Firm says a deal with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would boost Moorpark project.

A developer seeking to build 3,000 houses on 4,000 acres northeast of Moorpark has discussed selling as much as half the land to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy so it can be preserved as open space.

The conservancy and Messenger Investment Co. have met twice in the past year to discuss how the conservancy might acquire the acreage, which environmentalists consider a vital link between Happy Camp Regional Park in Moorpark and Runkle Ranch--which includes a small portion in L.A. County--near Simi Valley.

Messenger is interested in selling a portion of the property to help pay for roads and other public improvements that would be required for the development.

Moorpark officials, who are inching toward a decision on whether to try to annex the land, have already said they would expect the developer to provide a new fire station, police substation, paramedic facility and schools, in addition to an estimated $25-million access road that would actually service the residences.

Messenger Vice President Gary Austin said that a land-acquisition deal could allow the conservancy to secure the open space while helping the development go forward. “They have some objectives and we have some objectives and we would like to pursue that and see if we can help each other,” Austin said.

Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy, said the agency is interested in acquiring the land but will have to wait for the results of a planned June, 1994, ballot measure before it knows whether it will have the money to do so.

Edmiston met late last year with Messenger President Bill Messenger in what he described as an “introductory, ‘Hi, how are you’ ” meeting.

“At this point, I wouldn’t describe them as anything other than discussions,” Edmiston said. “They are not detailed negotiations because we do not have a funding source for this.”

Messenger on Thursday also described the meeting as preliminary. “It’s just a discovery process,” he said. “To us, it’s part of a process of understanding the various agencies that will help shape and form the master plan for the development.”

Messenger is planning about 3,000 houses, a golf course, equestrian center and retail space on the land that it has named Hidden Creek Ranch.

The council on Wednesday delayed until next week a decision on whether to apply to the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission to increase the city’s sphere of influence to include the land, situated north and east of its current boundaries. The council also deferred adoption of a memorandum of understanding with Messenger that would outline the development process.

Councilman Scott Montgomery, who serves on the conservancy’s advisory committee, endorses involvement of the agency.

“It would be unfair, I think, to ask the taxpayers of Moorpark to bear the entire burden of maintenance, operations and liability on that land,” Montgomery said. Conservancy participation would result in lower densities and greater improvements than would be possible if the only participants in the process were the city and Messenger, he said.

Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason said he is not averse to conservancy involvement in the Messenger development, but believed it was critical that the city have the entire 4,000 acres on the table when it considers any specific project.

“As far as I’m concerned, the arrangement is between the city and the applicant, not the applicant and the conservancy,” Lawrason said.

From Edmiston’s standpoint, the key to any deal depends on the conservancy’s ability to find the dollars necessary to participate. The hopes now are riding on an anticipated June, 1994, statewide park-acquisition bond measure being planned by the Planning and Conservation League, a Sacramento-based environmental lobbyist.

Beyond that, Edmiston said, there are no other funding sources in sight that could support a Messenger purchase.

“We are caught in this kind of nebulous thing,” he said. “Where we are interested, we want to talk to people and for them to know we are interested, but we can’t cut checks. Which is about equivalent to sitting on a picket fence with a sharp point.”