No Endangered Species Found on Messenger Investment Co. Site : Moorpark: But more environmental work mus be done, firm’s vice president says. Public forums on the 4,000-acre proposed project are planned.

A spring survey of plant and animal life on the proposed Messenger Investment Co. development north of Moorpark shows that no endangered species inhabit the 4,000-acre site, officials said.

The environmental study, by Los Angeles-based Michael Brandman Associates, included a search for sensitive reptiles, amphibians, birds and raptors and was completed early last month, said Messenger Vice President Gary Austin.

“There was nothing that was what I would call a fatal flaw,” Austin said. However, he added, “There is still a lot of environmental work left to be done.”

The company’s high-profile plans to develop the property, which Messenger is drafting in detail, will be discussed at a series of public forums in August.

“The whole point is to make sure that as the planners start to get more specific about what the project should look like, that comments from the public are incorporated into that,” Austin said.

As proposed, the development will include about 3,000 homes, at least one golf course, parks, schools and an equestrian center.

Austin said his company plans to submit a formal application for development to the city by October.

Messenger envisions setting aside about half of the property as open space, although how ownership of the land would be transferred to an agency such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy or the city has yet to be negotiated.

Austin said Messenger and conservancy officials have met to discuss the possible land purchase by the conservancy, but the discussions are preliminary because the state park agency lacks money.

Messenger has already hired most of the consultants who will work on the Hidden Creek Ranch project.

In addition to environmental consultants Michael Brandman Associates, the company has hired Thousand Oaks-based civil engineers The Haaland Group and Richardson Nagy Martin, a planning and architecture firm based in Newport Beach.

Messenger plans to hire a traffic engineer soon in hopes of securing city approvals by next summer, before the massive development can become an issue in election-year politics, Austin said.

Three of the five council members--Mayor Paul Lawrason, Councilman Bernardo Perez and Councilman John Wozniak--face reelection bids in November, 1994.

Earlier this year, after months of detailed and often-frustrating negotiations with the city on a proposed “memorandum of understanding,” which would have outlined the planning process leading to approvals, Austin abruptly announced that Messenger would no longer seek such an agreement and would retreat and begin work on the development on its own.

The city and developer had been poised to ask the Ventura County Local Agency Formation Commission to expand Moorpark’s sphere of influence to include the land, but Austin said that step now will come only after the city and developer have agreed on development plans for the site.

“We are not going to file any technical applications with LAFCO until we’re essentially through the city,” Austin said.

Lawrason said that, although the Messenger project has left the public arena for the past few months, he still believes “it has some distinct advantages for the city.”

“There have been several meetings between the community development committee and staff and Messenger to discuss how this whole thing is going to work,” Lawrason said. “We’re quite a long ways out.”