Firm’s Development Plan to Be Reviewed

The City Council tonight is scheduled to hold the first of several meetings on a Newhall-based company’s plans to build its new headquarters on Moorpark’s eastern edge.

Council members will review Special Devices Inc.’s proposal for a 331,000-square-foot complex, including offices and facilities for manufacturing small explosive devices used to activate automobile air bags. If approved, the complex would be located immediately east of the intersection of California 23 and New Los Angeles Avenue, on a 298-acre parcel of land currently zoned as open space.

The city’s Planning Commission on Monday recommended that the council approve a development agreement with the company that would leave more than 270 acres of the site undeveloped, with conservation easements guaranteeing that the land remains as open space. The company would also leave an undeveloped seven-acre strip of land along the Arroyo Simi, which flows across the project’s northern border.

The council will discuss the development agreement and the environmental impact study for the project.