Moorpark Delays Setting Date for Election on Development

A developer seeking voter approval of a lakeside community in the hills near Moorpark has been granted a two-week delay before the city sets a date for a special election next year.

The City Council approved 3 to 1 the delay requested by North Park Village LP of San Diego on Wednesday night, when it had originally been scheduled to set the election date.

The postponement was needed because one of the project’s partners recently fell ill and had to be hospitalized, said Vince Daly of Daly Owens Group, a Westlake Village firm working with the developer to win approval of the project.

Because the land is outside Moorpark’s borders, city growth-control rules require that the plan be approved by voters before the property can be annexed.

The council had been considering Feb. 7 for the special election. It will now probably be scheduled for Feb. 28 or March 7, officials said.

The project calls for construction of about 1,700 residences and a man-made lake, and would include nearly 2,600 acres of open space and a nature preserve. It would also include new schools, a fire station and an additional offramp from the nearby Ronald Reagan Freeway.

Mayor Patrick Hunter, who voted against the delay, criticized the developer for giving the city one day’s notice.

“You didn’t realize until 24 hours before the council meeting that you would need a continuance?” he said during the council meeting. “I’m a little disappointed in the professionalism demonstrated by North Park.”

But Councilman Clint Harper, who with Hunter helped negotiate the North Park Village development deal, said the delay didn’t seem unreasonable.

Harper and council members Keith Millhouse and Janice Parvin voted to approve the continuance.

Councilwoman Roseann Mikos abstained from voting.