County OKs Concept for Rare-Species Zoo Between Simi and Moorpark

A nonprofit group that wants to build a one-of-a-kind zoo in eastern Ventura County for endangered species was given the go-ahead Tuesday to begin drafting plans for the project and to arrange financing for it.

The Board of Supervisors agreed to a one-year optional lease agreement with the Los Angeles-based Endangered Species Zoological Society, which hopes to build the 115-acre zoo at a county-owned park between Moorpark and Simi Valley.

The organization will have an option to extend its lease with the county four additional years on the condition that it meets certain fund-raising requirements. If financing for the project is secured, the county would then enter into a 50-year lease with the zoological society.

As planned, the Endangered Species EcoPark would be the first in the nation to house only rare animals, such as Madagascan lemurs and Brazilian golden lion tamarins, in a wildlife preserve setting. Backers said the zoo at the county’s Oak Park would draw up to 250,000 visitors a year and pump millions of dollars into the local economy.

The board praised the proposal as a potential world-class tourist attraction and educational center that would also be a boon to the local economy.

“It’s an exciting concept,” Supervisor Susan Lacey said. “These people are dreamers. I think it’s great to have folks that dare to dream in this day and age.”

County officials, however, said that the biggest challenge will be for the zoological society to come up with the money necessary to build the project.

Under the lease agreement approved Tuesday, the group would have to raise $250,000 to extend its lease agreement for a second year and $1 million beginning in the third year.

The county in turn would receive $1,000 a year for the first five years and between $6,000 and $12,000 a year for the first five years of the long-term lease. The rent would then be adjusted based on the income of the park.

The supervisors said the lease option was necessary to give the zoo’s backers a chance to attract investors.

“It’s very difficult to go to a corporation or someone willing to donate money for a project like this if you don’t know where it’s going to be,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said. “Now they have the ability to say, ‘We’ve got a site.’ ”

Also on Tuesday, the board approved a two-year lease agreement with a developer seeking to build two 18-hole golf courses at Happy Camp Regional Park just north of Moorpark.

Like the zoo project, the golf project also has a lease option designed to give developer Ralph Mahan time to come up with detailed plans and financing for the project. The golf courses would be built on the lower 700 acres of the park, and the upper 3,000 acres would remain wilderness area.

If built, county officials estimate that the golf courses could generate between $250,000 and $500,000 annually for the county.

But one environmentalist complained to the board Tuesday that the golf courses would destroy rare grasslands and harm the park’s wildlife--deer and bobcat.

“Ventura County is being encouraged to abandon its role as a steward of the Happy Camp wilderness preserve,” said Roseann Mikos, from the Moorpark chapter of the Environmental Coalition. “Watch out for that almighty dollar because it can make us make decisions that we sometimes regret.”

Blake Boyle, manager of the county’s Recreation Services Department, said that an extensive environmental review would be required before the project is approved.

“The environmental process would deal with all of these issues of sensitive grasslands, water availability and habitat,” he said.