Council Vows to Finish Plans for Bridge Over Creek Within a Month

Just a week after the drowning of an 11-year-old boy who was swept away while trying to cross the rain-swollen Arroyo Simi, the Moorpark City Council told his classmates Wednesday night that the city would complete plans for a footbridge over the creek within a month.

About a dozen of Joel Burchfield’s classmates from Chaparral Middle School appeared at the council meeting, urging the officials to build a bridge as soon as possible.

“Lots of children like to walk home across the wash ‘cause it’s faster,” said Tim Hass, an 11-year-old friend. “We just hope you can push this project along and make it safer.”

The classmates also submitted a petition signed by more than 1,300 high school and middle school students calling for a footbridge across the arroyo.

Council members said the bridge would be built as soon as details can be worked out.

“I know that is no solace for anyone that was close to the boy,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said. “But it does look like we will have a bridge in place by the next rainy season.”

Council members stressed that the plans for the footbridge, long in the works, were not a reaction to Joel’s death last Wednesday. The middle school student was believed to have crossed the arroyo at the spot where the bridge is proposed.

“This has been a long process,” Councilman John Wozniak said. “It’s just coincidental that it’s happened at the same time.”

The $600,000 bridge would be built in conjunction with a small neighborhood park planned for the end of Liberty Bell Road near the Villa Campesina neighborhood.

Since last summer, Wozniak served on a city committee working with residents of Villa Campesina and county officials to come up with a final plan for the park. Construction of the park and footbridge has been delayed because that part of the parkland is an easement that the Ventura County Flood Control District has been unwilling to give up.

Residents of the neighborhood sent a letter to the Moorpark council and the flood district in August urging them to reach agreement on the park project. On Monday, city and county officials tentatively agreed on the final plans, but they still need formal approval from the city and from residents in the neighborhood, Wozniak said. If all goes as planned, construction could begin sometime this spring.

But the footbridge isn’t necessarily going to make the arroyo any safer for children, Wozniak warned.

“There are four other access points besides the one that Joel used,” he said. “People have got to remember here that building a bridge . . . is not a saving grace for the arroyo. Parents have to tell their kids that the arroyo is dangerous and they should stay out.”

On Wednesday, some residents speculated that Joel’s death had pushed government officials into action.

“I think maybe there has been a flame lit under them,” said Melissa Harris, a resident of Villa Campesina, who has been lobbying city and county officials to build the park and footbridge.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time,” Harris said. “It just seems that they’ve been pushed by the public outcry.”

But Harris acknowledged that even if the bridge had been built sooner, it might not have prevented the accident.

“Who knows if on that day he would have even taken the bridge if it was build,” Harris said. “I have two boys myself and they tend to take risks rather than the safe route.”

Harris not only wants a bridge, she also wants the county to fence off the arroyo, something county officials said may do little to stop children from getting in the drainage channel.

Chris Evans, a candidate for City Council, urged the city to go ahead and erect a temporary fence, regardless of what the county officials think. Lawrason said he would consider that option.

The city is scheduled to discuss final plans for the park and footbridge in a closed session meeting Feb. 21, and will go over details of the plan with residents at a neighborhood meeting Feb. 26.