Moorpark Officials Predict Fiscal Slump Will End in ’95 : Development: Many hope the promise of new housing, stores and perhaps a new factory will turn around the financial malaise of the ‘90s.

Predicting that the coming year will end an economic slump for Moorpark, city officials say they hope that 1995 will see the biggest increase in local development since the boom years of the 1980s.

For a time Moorpark was one of California’s fastest growing communities. Tripling in size in about seven years and issuing so many building permits--about 1,900 in 1986 alone--it accumulated roughly $2 million in surplus funds through fees collected from developers.

But that surplus declined to about $150,000 this year, a result of the city’s growth rate dropping from a high of 200% at one point in the 1980s to about 2% annually over the past four years.

While no city representative wants to repeat the growth the town experienced in the 1980s, many are hoping that the promise of new housing, new stores and the possibility of a new factory will turn around the financial malaise of the 1990s.

“I see a lot of good things happening for Moorpark in the coming year,” Councilman Scott Montgomery said. “The new developments will bring a lot of needed facilities. They will bring employment. Home values will rise again. People will be able to stay in town for their entertainment and to shop. The future looks good.”

City leaders want Moorpark to be more than just a bedroom community for Los Angeles. They hope an increasing number of residents will not only choose to live in the city, but work there, shop there, and stay there for entertainment.

Toward that end, city leaders are boasting about a proposed shopping center and theater complex at Mission Bell Plaza on Los Angeles Avenue expected to be finished by next fall.

And to bring more jobs to the city, Moorpark officials hope their efforts to lure a Newhall-based manufacturing company--Special Devices Inc.--and its more than 700 jobs to the city will pay off in 1995.

City and county officials helped work out an incentive package for the company worth about $1.6 million, and are hoping that state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) will be able to pass legislation worth more than $5 million in tax credits for the company if it relocates to Moorpark. But Special Devices officials have yet to make up their minds on the offer and are considering a move to Mesa, Ariz.

Whether the company and its workers relocate to Moorpark, several plans guarantee that the city will see new housing to accommodate newcomers by the end of 1995.

One company, Urban West, will probably complete the Mountain Meadows housing development with the construction of about 270 multifamily dwellings off Mountain Trail Street on the southwest side of town.

On the southeast side, construction is expected to begin on some of the 552 residences planned by the Carlsberg Development Co. on its 500 acres. Also, the city hopes to begin work in 1995 on its first affordable housing project--50 residences planned for Gisler Field off Los Angeles Avenue.

Along with the activity from housing construction, there will be a flurry of activity by city officials as they begin environmental impact reviews involving several other larger projects.

These projects include the Messenger Investment Co.’s plan to build more than 3,000 residences on the northeastern side of town, the Levy Co.’s plans for 620 housing units on the north side of Poindexter Avenue, and a project involving 216 luxury houses proposed by the Bollinger Development Co. on 400 acres between Grimes Canyon Road and Walnut Canyon Road.

“What you’re seeing is really based on what every other city is experiencing,” said Jim Aguilera, Moorpark’s director of community development. “The economy is improving.”

With its rolling hills, small-town feel and reasonable housing prices all within commuting distance to Los Angeles, Moorpark is still a highly desirable locale, real estate specialists say.

The city’s Planning Department has started to receive inquiries nearly every day from development companies interested in building in the city, Aguilera said.

And those inquiries very likely will continue. City officials and residents alike want to ensure that any growth in the city is carefully managed. But exactly how to do that remains a question.

The city’s existing slow-growth ordinance--called Measure F--limits the number of new housing units in the city to 250 each year. But it expires at the end of 1995, and the city had planned to pass a new ordinance then that would be similar in terms of limits on new construction.

City leaders, however, are backing away from that plan because of the experience of Oceanside, which lost a six-year legal battle over a similar ordinance.

“With the Oceanside case it’s apparent that we’re going to have to take a second look at the ordinance,” Councilman John Wozniak said. “It looks like we’ll have to get away from numerical caps. There’s no sense in spending millions and millions of dollars defending something that is not legally defensible.”

Along with just how to manage growth within Moorpark, city officials are also being saddled with managing growth on the city’s periphery. Two large golf courses proposed for Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park and an endangered species zoo proposed for Oak Park on the east side of town have Wozniak worried.

Wozniak said information on the projects was kept from the city by county officials.

“We have projects at our front door and our back door and we were left out of the process,” Wozniak said. “What we’ve learned from that is that this year we are going to have to make sure we are part of the process from here on in. We’re going to lobby our newly elected supervisor and we’re not going to take an ‘I’ll get back to you’ response.”

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Proposed Moorpark Projects

Developer: Messenger Investment Co. Location: Northeast of Moorpark College Acres: 4,500 Number of homes:3,221 *

Developer: Levy Co. Location: North side of Poindexter Avenue Acres: 285 Number of homes:620 *

Developer: Carlsberg Financial Corp. Location: Near Tierra Rejada Road and the Moorpark Freeway Acres: 500 Number of homes:552 *

Developer: Bollinger Development Co. Location: Between Grimes Canyon and Walnut Canyon roads Acres: 400 Number of homes:216 *

Source: City of Moorpark