MOORPARK : Housing Plan to Get Impact Study

A proposal to build 216 houses and two golf courses on 655 acres in northwest Moorpark can undergo an environmental review, the City Council has decided.

Westlake-based Bollinger Development will submit its plan to build the luxury residences--expected to cost $800,000 to $1.2 million each--to an independent environmental consultant who will determine the project’s impact on the area.

Bollinger has offered one golf course for public use. In exchange, the city would pay for some road, sewer and street-light construction in the area.

“It’s unfair if they expect us to defray some of that cost in exchange for a golf course,” Councilman Bernardo Perez said. “Why should we be giving the development anything? It’s their obligation to complete the infrastructure, not ours.”

The developer has estimated that the golf course could earn the city as much as $1 million annually.

Perez said it was still too early in the process to make a final judgment on the development. He said he had other concerns that will probably be addressed in the environmental review, which is not due for several months, he said.