Luxury Housing OKd, but Investors Sought
Wanted: Big-pocket investors willing to drop up to $50 million on a luxury housing development with two championship golf courses.
With the Moorpark City Council’s approval early Thursday of a plan to build 216 custom homes and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, all the developer of the project needs now is money.
Over the objections of two council members who said they were worried that the developer would not be able to complete the project, thus exposing the city to some financial risk, the City Council voted 3 to 2 to approve the Country Club Estates development proposed by Paul Bollinger of Westlake Village.
Bollinger, who holds an option to purchase the property, does not yet own the 655 acres between Walnut Canyon and Grimes Canyon on which his project is planned.
But after months of negotiations, the city was able to extract a deal from Bollinger that gives him 120 days to purchase the land or risk having the property revert to its previous zoning, thus dooming the development.
In a detailed agreement setting the conditions of approval, city officials have tried to ensure that if Bollinger is unable to purchase the property, another developer could not come in and build on the land free of the conditions the city worked out with Bollinger.
Mayor Paul Lawrason, City Councilman Bernardo Perez and newly elected City Councilwoman Eloise Brown voted for the project, saying the hundreds of conditions listed in the agreement were enough to protect the city from that possibility.
“If you wanted to find reasons not to approve you could do it,” Brown said. “I agonized over which way I wanted to go, but I talked to the city attorney about this at great length and I feel the agreement provides the best protection for the city while providing an opportunity to develop this land.”
The agreement also obligates Bollinger to pay the city more than $5 million over 15 years.
Wanting to develop the land since 1989, Bollinger said Thursday he was happy with the city’s decision.
“I think [the City Council] basically said ‘this is a great project, let’s see if it works,’ ” he said.
Bollinger’s next step is to decide where to get the estimated $50 million he will need to purchase and develop the land. He said he doesn’t expect any problems raising the money, and he plans to break ground on the project within four months.
“There are a lot of banks and investors interested,” he said. “I just have to decide on what form of financing I want to use.”
Despite Bollinger’s optimism, the two council members who voted against the project said they were not so upbeat.
“I asked questions whether [the city] is adequately covered and I didn’t get an unequivocal yes or an unequivocal no,” Councilman John Wozniak said. “It just makes me nervous, and I guess that’s my main concern.”
Wozniak said he was also worried about the potential air pollution and traffic that would be caused by people heading in and out of the development and those driving to the golf courses.
“What we have is OK, but I don’t know if ‘just OK’ is good enough,” he said.
Although he said that on paper the project--with its golf courses, luxury homes and other amenities--looks great, Councilman Patrick Hunter said he could not vote for it.
“I very much wanted to vote in support of it,” he said after the meeting. “I like a lot of components of the agreement . . . but I still have questions about the developer’s ability to complete the project as proposed. With all the problems and the lingering questions that have surrounded this project . . . I just in good conscience couldn’t vote for it.”
