Proposal to Rename Historic Street Creates Hot Debate : Moorpark: The City Council will consider a plan to change Peach Hill Road to Mesa Verde Drive to match that of a new school to open next fall.

A plan to rename part of a historic Moorpark thoroughfare to match that of a new middle school has drawn fire from longtime residents and city officials as a breach of city tradition.

“I’ve had about as many calls on this as I’ve had on any issue that’s come before me,” said Scott Montgomery, a City Council member since 1988.

The council on Wednesday will consider a request to change about one-half mile of Peach Hill Road to Mesa Verde Drive so the name would jibe with a middle school to be opened next fall.

The name-change dispute is the latest between city officials and the local school board. For example, the city negotiated purchase of a school site as a downtown park for years, but could not close the deal.

Resident Kenneth Sherman, with the backing of the Moorpark school board, has pressed for the name change. The school board backed the plan by voting last month to spend $1,000 for new street signs if the city agrees to the move.

Board member Tom Baldwin said he supports the request because it would make it easier for parents and students to find the new school, but he said he does not consider the issue a critical one.

“It would be a better choice of name for the road, and I hope the city takes the suggestion,” Baldwin said. “But if they don’t, it’s not a tragedy.”

Sherman, who served on a district committee that named new Mesa Verde Middle School, said he was asked by the school’s principal to try to change the name of Peach Hill Road.

“We are growing as a city, whether we like it or not, and we need to embrace change,” Sherman said. “I just think it’ll make things easier for the parents that will be having children go to the new school in the years to come.”

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Sherman said the change would end confusion created by the L-shaped configuration of Peach Hill Road, which runs east, west, north and south at different points.

But both Montgomery and Mayor Paul Lawrason said they would be reluctant to change the name of such a historically significant thoroughfare, particularly one that carries the name of such an established neighborhood.

The road has been known as Peach Hill since the early 1900s, and the Peach Hill neighborhood is one of the city’s largest, Montgomery said.

“It’s a part of the way our city is, and I think the mere idea of simply renaming it for some convenience . . . doesn’t sit with me at all,” Lawrason said.

Lawrason said he is concerned that the change could also be inconvenient for about 10 residents whose street would be renamed, as well as for two churches on the street.

“I can see the logic (behind a change),” Lawrason said. “But that doesn’t really sway me.”

Sherman said he will accept the City Council’s ruling.

“I don’t want to shake anything up,” he said.