Time Running Out to Comment on Project

Public comment closes today for a proposed 652-unit residential development in northern Moorpark.

Criticism of the project has centered on increased traffic and loss of wildlife habitat, city officials said Wednesday.

The development, to be built by Camarillo-based Morrison Fountainwood on 445 acres east of Walnut Canyon Road and north of Los Angeles Avenue, would include an extension of Spring Road north from Charles Street and designate that roadway as California 23.

The new highway would divert traffic from Moorpark Avenue and the downtown area by switching the California 23 designation from Walnut Canyon Road to Spring Road.

Planning Commissioner Keith Millhouse questioned the need for the switch.

“Would that solve things, or are we just shifting the problem?” Millhouse said.

With the residential units planned, 58% of the natural habitat would be reduced in the area, according to the developer’s environmental impact report. The development probably would also have an adverse impact on the California gnatcatcher, listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A consultant for the developer will submit a final draft of the project’s environmental impact report in six weeks, Millhouse said.

That report will address comments made during the 45-day public review period that ends today.

All issues raised at two public hearings--one held Sept. 16 at a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and City Council and one held Monday--as well as written comments will be addressed in the consultant’s report. Written comments will be accepted at City Hall until 5 p.m. today.

Mike Greynald, managing member of Morrison Fountainwood, said the project creates “meaningful open space” on the site.

Plans call for 175 acres of open space, most of it on the southern end of the property.

Of that total, 87.1 acres would be private property and maintained by a homeowners association, while 94 acres would be dedicated as a conservation easement. Some of that easement would be reserved for a future California 118 bypass.

The proposed residential units, 532 single-family homes and 120 multifamily units, would be built on the northern and central portions of the property. Sixty-five of the multifamily units would be earmarked as affordable housing.

A middle school is proposed for a 20-acre site and the project would have an 11-acre public park.