Long-Awaited Downtown Park to Open

On Friday morning, Poindexter Park looked like a present waiting to be unwrapped.

The brightly colored play sets were clean, still unscuffed by kids’ shoes. The gazebos were still empty. The only people in the park were a few city workers trimming the grass around the freshly planted landscaping.

All that will change today when, after years of effort, Moorpark officially opens its first downtown park.

Although the city has no shortage of parks, Poindexter will fill a void long identified by city leaders. Most of the city’s parks are nestled within relatively new housing tracts. None lies within quick walking distance of the downtown neighborhoods.

“We need small neighborhood parks where grandma or young mothers can take the tots and let them crawl on the grass,” Councilwoman Eloise Brown said.

City leaders tried for years to purchase downtown property owned by the Moorpark Unified School District for use as a park.

But the two parties became mired in a dispute over the property’s price, an argument that ended only when the state Supreme Court ruled in the school district’s favor.

The city then turned its attention to another parcel, south of Poindexter Avenue and west of Chaparral Middle School. In 1993, the city’s redevelopment agency purchased the property for $5.5 million and later sold the southern end for commercial development.

Construction at the park has been underway for about a year, Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

Now the eight-acre lot is filled with horseshoe pits, picnic areas, two baseball diamonds, a walking trail and a memorial grove recognizing Moorpark’s veterans.

The improvements cost about $1 million, City Manager Steve Kueny said.

An inaugural horseshoe tournament will begin about 9 a.m., followed by opening ceremonies at 10 a.m.

Representatives of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars will help dedicate the memorial grove.

After that, children will be free to race around the play equipment and explore the park, Kueny said. “I’m sure they’ve been waiting for it,” he said.