MOORPARK : City May Look to Other Sites for Park

After years of focusing on a former high school on Casey Road as the ideal location for a long-promised downtown park, Moorpark City Council members said it may be time to look elsewhere.

Negotiations over the sale of the property have become so snagged that Councilman John Wozniak asked that the council at its next meeting discuss possible alternatives to the former school site. The city has been unable to buy from the school district despite six years of negotiations and legal wrangling.

“Rather than try to muddle through that any more, I think we need to look elsewhere,” Wozniak said Friday. “I’ve always been one to not want to put all my eggs in one basket.”

Councilman Scott Montgomery said Wozniak’s suggestion that the council try to locate an alternative site represents a major shift from the city’s earlier stance.

“I think it represents a significant departure from being totally focused upon obtaining only the school district property,” Montgomery said.

The city and school district appeared to be closer than ever to sealing a deal for the 10-acre site in early June, when the city approved conditions of a sale but the school board deadlocked 2-2 on the settlement.

Since then, the sides have exchanged several revised offers, but officials from both sides say differences over provisions of the deal have increased in recent weeks.