MOORPARK : Council to Consider Carlsberg Project

Moorpark leaders will consider tonight whether to approve the largest proposed housing development in Moorpark.

The City Council is also expected to decide whether to approve a negotiated settlement with the proposed developer, which would exempt Santa Monica-based Carlsberg Financial Corp. from future growth-control measures that could interfere with plans to build 550 homes.

Councilman John Wozniak said he wanted to prevent the company from building on ridgelines and to push some of the proposed homes farther away from a rare wetland. Both moves would mean that the company would have to reduce the number of homes built at the site.

Wozniak also said he did not support the proposed settlement, which would exempt Carlsberg from Measure F, which restricts development.

“There has been some concern,” Wozniak said, “about another lawsuit” from Carlsberg, which sued the city in 1991, alleging the city had unfairly limited the development to 405 homes. “But there is always a threat we’ll get sued no matter what we do. I just see this exemption as flying in the face of what Measure F intended to do.”

Others council members have said that the council is close to approving the Carlsberg development plans as well as the settlement agreement.

“You can’t separate the two,” said Mayor Paul Lawrason. “We’ve negotiated for years on this, and a lot of that time was under the threat of a lawsuit. But I think we are very close to finding a final compromise.”

Lawrason said the city could receive about $3 million in fees from the developer if the project is approved. In addition, Carlsberg would have to complete needed improvements on Tierra Rejada and Spring roads.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re there in terms of reasonableness, equity and benefits to the city,” Lawrason said.