Votes on 2 Key Issues Are Postponed

With the hour getting late, the City Council on Wednesday night postponed for two weeks voting on two potentially divisive issues.

The Moorpark council decided to wait until July 2 before making a final decision on beefing up the city’s curfew rules, and also put off a decision on whether to allow a Los Angeles couple to build a gas station and minimarket in an industrial park on the east side of town.

Council members took testimony Wednesday until just before midnight from several high-profile businesses that opposed a Planning Commission decision to allow the gas station.

The couple--Anna and Zack Boukhari--received approval from commission in April to build the project at Condor Drive and Los Angeles Avenue.

But lawyers from three neighboring businesses appealed the decision to the City Council, saying the station would attract unwanted traffic and crime and that building a gas station near their manufacturing companies would violate zoning.

Seeing that more time was needed, the council decided to continue discussing the matter at its meeting July 2.

The council has also delayed discussion of new rules to expand the city’s 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

The new rules would provide stiffer penalties for breaking curfew, including charging parents up to $500 for the costs of a deputy’s time dealing with their child. To fight truancy, the new rules would also extend the curfew during the school year to include 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.