Faults Discovered Close to School Site

Spurred by the recent discovery of two fault lines in northern Moorpark, school district officials will study the site of a proposed elementary school to make sure no faults run under the Casey Road property.

City officials Tuesday briefed Moorpark Unified School District Supt. Tom Duffy and school board President Tom Baldwin on fault lines found running through nearby property where a housing project is planned. Geologists on the housing project do not know whether the faults extend beneath the school district’s site.

“Since the district is in the process of building something, we wanted to make them aware of these potential concerns,” said Nelson Miller, the city’s community development director.

Duffy said the district would examine the geologists’ findings and take another look at soil studies already performed on the Casey Road property. Before moving forward with plans for the school, the district would make sure that the property was free of fault lines or other geological hazards, he said.

Duffy said he did not know whether the analysis would slow plans to open the school by fall 1998.

The faults were found beneath undeveloped land on which Morrison Homes hopes to build about 580 houses. The project is likely to come before the city Planning Commission this summer.

The age and significance of the faults is still being studied, Miller said.

“That’s what this investigation is about--finding out what’s there, what the extent is, what could happen,” he said.

Baldwin said the geologists--looking at surface features of the landscape--had theorized that the two faults could affect Casey Road.

“They found some faults and, by extrapolation, they thought it could run through our site,” he said.