Revamped Council to Face Tough Development Decisions

By the end of 1997, signs of growth will mark the hills along California 23.

West of the freeway and north of Tierra Rejada Road, the land will be scraped smooth to make way for the 552-home Carlsberg development. To the east, a new corporate headquarters will rise from a flattened hilltop above the highway.

And yet, significant as those projects are--one bringing new residents to the city, the other, new jobs--they pale in comparison to some of the developments whose fate the Moorpark City Council may decide during 1997.

The Hidden Creek Ranch project, which would build 3,221 homes north of Moorpark College, should reach the council in February or March. A plan to build about 550 homes north of Spring Road and east of Walnut Canyon Road should come up for Planning Commission review sometime in the spring.

Smaller projects within the city limits could add homes to downtown Moorpark and industrial buildings to the city’s commercial areas.

“You have so many projects coming before you that you have a tendency to say, ‘My Lord, they want to build everywhere,’ ” said Councilman Chris Evans.

Punctuate the list of projects with a political question mark: the recently revamped City Council.

Two new members with backgrounds in the local business community--Evans and real estate agent Debbie Rodgers Teasley--joined the council in December. For the first time in six years, the city has a new mayor, Patrick Hunter, considered by some to be less enthusiastic about growth than his predecessor.

Moorpark residents trying to divine the new council’s attitude toward development issues so far have little to go on, other than campaign pledges to promote careful, managed growth.

“We heard all of the candidates declare their dedication to a semirural Moorpark, and yet if these projects go through, it will be the end of semirural Moorpark,” said Bill La Perch, a frequent critic of development who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in November.

“I would hope they would keep that commitment.” he said. “Of course, there’s no law that they have to follow their campaign statements.”

The slew of projects is the result of both timing and a resurgent economy. Hidden Creek has been winding its way through the city approval process for six years, generating study after study on the project’s potential impact on the local environment and city finances. Other development efforts--such as the Overland Co.’s plan to build 305 homes south of Los Angeles Avenue--are a reflection of resurgent real estate sales.

“The housing market has rebounded a bit in Southern California, and I think Moorpark has been a focus of some of that energy,” said Nelson Miller, the city’s planning director.

The city has also shown strength in commercial real estate, luring Special Devices Inc. from Los Angeles County to build its headquarters on a hill above California 23.

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Many of the issues the council will face this year involve questions of Moorpark’s future shape. A study of ways to revitalize the city’s downtown is in its final stages and will be the subject of an upcoming joint meeting between the council and the Planning Commission, Hunter said. And Teasley wants the city to develop a plan for attracting new businesses to Moorpark, saying the city needs a firm idea of the kind of companies it wants and the ways it can entice them.

On all of these issues, Moorpark residents are already trying to guess which way the new council members--Evans and Teasley--will lean. Some of the city’s slow-growth voices already question Teasley’s impartiality on development issues. They say that, as a real estate agent, she stands to gain from approving new housing tracts.

“I can see a real conflict of interest there,” said Tim Kelly, a frequent critic of the Hidden Creek project. “I don’t think she should be voting on these land-use issues.”

Teasley counters that her experience selling real estate is an asset, adding to her understanding of the issues. And she rejects the idea that she has a financial stake in seeing more homes built.

“Giving me more stuff to sell doesn’t necessarily help me,” she said. “A glut of homes wouldn’t help me.”

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Evans, who runs a bridal expo business, strikes some residents as a mystery. He has been a vocal advocate of helping local businesses and says that some growth could benefit Moorpark by bringing new customers, and new shops, into the city. At the same time, he has repeatedly said development projects should be judged according to how they will affect residents’ quality of life.

Evans said he doesn’t see himself as a swing vote and believes the new council’s direction is still taking shape.

“I don’t think we’ve even had enough meetings to get the character,” he said. “My job is to go in and listen to each individual project as it comes along and vote on it.”

Veteran Councilman John Wozniak tends to follow a slow-growth philosophy, while Councilman Bernardo Perez defies characterization.

As for Hunter, he rejects attempts by some constituents to place him squarely in the slow-growth camp.

“We’re going to try to balance the vision that I think the entire community shares . . . and the rights of property owners to realize a reasonable return on that investment,” he said.

Hunter added, however, that he will not cave in to the requests of developers, or anyone else.

“If you’re asking if I can stand up to developers, the answer is yes, because I can stand up to anybody,” he said. “I will not be intimidated by anyone on any issue.”