MOORPARK : Panel Backs Plans for Zoo, Golf Courses

Proposals to build an endangered species zoo and two 18-hole golf courses near Moorpark have been approved in concept by the county Parks and Harbor Commission, which recommended that the Board of Supervisors allow developers to draw up plans for the projects.

The commission recommended Wednesday that the supervisors allow developers to lease county-owned Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park and draw up plans for the golf courses.

Supervisors also will consider allowing a five-year lease by the zoo, a separate project that would be built at another county park between Moorpark and Simi Valley.

“If the board allows the lease options to be signed, then the applicants will start developing their plans,” said Robert Amore, lease manager for the parks. “But the projects will still have to go through the specific plan process, and environmental review. This is still very preliminary.”

City officials in Moorpark have complained that both projects have been developed without any comment from them. “We have two projects that are just outside our border and the county is saying we’re going to do it our way,” said Councilman John Wozniak. “Frankly it’s a slap in the face to everybody in Moorpark.”

The golf course developer, Ralph Mahan, would have to pay at least $25,000 as part of the lease option on the property, even if the golf courses are not built.

The lease option for the developers of the zoo, the nonprofit Endangered Species Zoological Society, requires that organizations pay $1,000 each year of the lease and show that they have raised enough money to build the project.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss the projects Dec. 6.