Plans Revamped for Long-Awaited Park

City planners may have had to redraw the maps--cutting out about a third of the land--but the outline for a small neighborhood park in Moorpark’s Villa Campesina has survived.

The Moorpark City Council is scheduled to consider new plans for the park and playground--to be built on about one acre at the end of Juarez Avenue--at a meeting tonight.

The 62 families that live in Moorpark’s Villa Campesina neighborhood have been waiting for the last five years to get a park and playground built. Last year, they received word that the park might not be built because the Ventura County Flood Control District plans to use 20% to 30% of the property to put in a flood control channel.

The news irked residents who had toiled for years to build their homes in the low-income neighborhood, developed under the guidance of the Cabrillo Economic Corp., a Saticoy-based nonprofit group.

Villa Campesina was built with “sweat equity” by working poor and lower middle-class families who never would have been able to afford a home on their own. With the help provided by the federal government, private organizations, the city and the Catholic Church, qualified families were given an opportunity to build their own homes over a three-year period ending in 1991.

The park was to be built within two years of the completion of the neighborhood, organizers had said, and each family put in about $800 to build it.

They only have about $40,000 in the bank for the project, which may take another $100,000 to build, according to city estimates. Residents have pledged to raise the balance through donations and corporate sponsors.

City officials said that even if the planned redesign is approved, they are not sure when construction on the park can begin because the work hinges on funding.

“I think the money is the biggest sticking point,” said Councilman John Wozniak, who has worked with Villa Campesina residents since August to come up with a new park design.

The redesigned park includes a basketball court, a playground for children and a row of barbecues.