City Moves to Block Plans for Golf Ranges

Saying golf ranges do not belong in the rural Tierra Rejada Valley, Moorpark City Council members Friday joined Thousand Oaks officials in their efforts to block two proposed driving ranges in the area.

The Moorpark council voted to appeal last week’s decision by the Ventura County Planning Commission to approve two driving range projects along Tierra Rejada Road. Rather than file its own appeal, Moorpark is expected to join the appeal already launched by the Thousand Oaks City Council.

Both councils are concerned that the ranges, which would be just east of California 23, represent an incursion into the Tierra Rejada greenbelt, an area of open space and agricultural land separating Moorpark, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.

Although all three cities have agreed to shield the greenbelt from development, the proposed ranges are on county-administered land.

One range, south of Tierra Rejada Road, would be within the greenbelt. The other, north of the road, would not.

County planners contend that driving ranges are permitted on land zoned as open space. But Nelson Miller, director of Moorpark’s Planning Department, said that until recently, ranges were not permitted on the county’s open space land.