MOORPARK : Upgrade OKd for Historic Central Area

Moorpark’s historic downtown will soon be adorned with benches, planters and trash receptacles after the City Council decided this week to spend $20,000 to help spruce up the area.

The 4-0 vote Wednesday clears the way to install the amenities along High Street before the city’s annual Country Days celebration in early October, city officials said.

“I think it’s a great step forward,” Moorpark Chamber of Commerce President Francis Okyere told the council before the vote. “I think it’s a positive move.”

The council voted to install nine benches, three seats, 13 trash receptacles and 13 planters along the half-mile street. The benches, which resemble wrought-iron and wood, are actually made of recycled aluminum and plastic, officials said.

The city Redevelopment Agency will pay $540 for each bench, $388 for each planter and $384 for each trash receptacle.

The vote came with objections from Councilman Scott Montgomery.

“These are nosebleed costs,” he said before voting for the purchase.

“That’s really hard to gulp down. . . . I’m going to go along with the motion to get something on the street.”

Joy Cummings, chairwoman of the Moorpark Old Town Merchants Assn., said she was disappointed that the city had rejected her group’s original plans for fewer benches and nearly four times as many planters--but happy to see some attention being paid the street.

“It’s nice that you are going ahead, that something is finally being done,” Cummings said. “Because this has been promised for years.”