Moorpark School Bond, Development Issues Will Be Back

Call it deja vu.

The new year will give residents another chance to vote on a failed $16-million school bond. And possibly, another shot at the park maintenance tax measure rejected in November.

What’s more, the development issues that have dominated city politics, namely the massive Hidden Creek Ranch project on Moorpark’s northeastern edge, will again confront council members.

As early as June, the council could vote on the 3,200-home project, the single-largest development in the city’s short history.

But voters in November will have a chance to tell the council exactly how they feel about that decision. That is when three of five council seats, including the mayor’s slot, are up for grabs.

Two council members known for their slow-growth stances--Pat Hunter and John Wozniak--are up for reelection, along with Councilman Bernardo Perez.

“I’d like to stick around for the conclusion to the major developments such as Hidden Creek Ranch . . . ,” said Perez, who has expressed interest in running for the mayoral seat. “It’s exciting to have an intimate involvement in the setting of the course for our community.”

Wozniak, who has served seven years on the council, said he definitely plans to run for a council seat, but has not decided whether to try for the mayor’s job.

Hunter said he has not made a decision on whether he will run again for a council seat.

“While it takes a heavy toll on your family, I enjoy my work immensely and will probably give it some serious thought after the first of the year,” Hunter said.

But the school district isn’t waiting for the crowded November ballot to try again for a bond measure that would cost residents $29 per $100,000 assessed property value for up to 30 years.

After falling less than two percentage points shy of the two-thirds majority needed, the district has placed the $16-million measure on the April ballot.

District officials say they will face a better chance at winning the measure without the park tax initiative on the same ballot in April. School district officials said the contentious tax initiative brought out more opposition to the polls and helped defeat the school bond.

The park measure will not be on the April ballot, but council members have not ruled out placing the measure on the June or November ballot.

“In February the council must make a decision on whether to place this item back on the ballot or not, with the best information available at that time,” Hunter said.

The city’s Budget and Finance Committee is meeting to discuss ways to maintain the parks.

In the meantime, the school district will have more to worry about than the school bond.

The district will be opening a new elementary campus in northwest Moorpark--and in the process, shifting boundaries for hundreds of kindergarten to eighth-grade students.

The catalyst for change is the opening of Walnut Canyon elementary school on Casey Road at the old Moorpark High School site. That campus will help handle increased enrollment and make room at other elementary campuses following a state incentive program to pare class sizes to 20 students or fewer.

With the new school opening the door to redistricting, trustees are looking at ways to balance the ethnic mix at other elementary schools. The new boundary lines could be drawn by late January.