Vote Expected on Luxury Home Project

The Moorpark City Council tonight is scheduled to consider a plan to build 216 luxury homes on the city’s north side.

City officials were still trying to reach an agreement with developer Paul Bollinger on the eve of the vote.

The council has postponed voting on the development at least four times in the last two months while the members tried to work out details of an agreement that would regulate how the project is built.

They postponed a vote on the project last week because Bollinger does not yet own the property. Council members were concerned that if they approved the development and Bollinger then was not able to buy the property, another developer could come in and build on the land and not be subject to the negotiated agreement.

After meetings Friday and Tuesday between Bollinger and city officials, Mayor Paul Lawrason said he thinks the two sides may have come up with a solution to the problem.

“But we will see,” Lawrason said.

The two sides have already negotiated an agreement that obligates Bollinger to pay the city more than $5 million over 15 years in exchange for such things as an exemption from any future growth-control rules or the city’s existing rules regulating construction on steep slopes.

Bollinger’s plan for the 655 acres of land between Walnut and Grimes canyons includes construction of two 18-hole golf courses, hiking trails and an equestrian center.

Bollinger posted an advertisement on the Internet nearly six months ago detailing the project in a five-page prospectus. In the outline, he says the project “will be approved in March 1996. Grading is anticipated to start in the summer of 1996 with lots available for sale in the fall. The two Bob Cupp-designed golf courses will be ready for play in the summer of 1997.”

He is looking for investments totaling more than $50 million to fund the purchase and construction of the project.