Developer Offers Bridge for Arroyo

With the rainy season in full swing, Moorpark officials are considering both a development company’s offer to donate a temporary bridge over the Arroyo Simi and a plan to have volunteers keep children from crossing the stream on rainy days.

West Pointe Homes has offered to give the city a bridge, currently in Long Beach, that would otherwise be demolished, said Ken Gilbert, Moorpark’s director of public works. The structure, with steel supports and a wooden deck, would be used as a temporary pedestrian bridge across the stream near the spot where 11-year-old Joel Burchfield drowned in January.

The city wants to build a permanent, 160-foot bridge at the spot, near Liberty Bell Road. Although the steel and wood bridge is only 110 feet long, Gilbert said the structure might still work on a temporary basis.

“Last weekend, I went down to look at it, and it has potential,” he said.

Councilman Pat Hunter said Thursday he wants to station some of the volunteers from the city’s Police Resource Center at the arroyo during future storms to prevent children from wading through the water on their way home from school.

He has discussed the idea with Capt. Mike Lewis, who oversees the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department deputies who patrol Moorpark, and said the system could be in place within the next month.