Veterans' memorial moves forward
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

The City Council awarded $1,000 to Community Works Design Group and $1,000 to Campbell and Campbell so each company can design preliminary plans for the new Moorpark Veterans Memorial site.

The two landscape architect firms will create renderings for the memorial site located at the corner of Flynn Avenue and Spring Street, across from the Police Services Center. Both firms have experience with memorial design, according to a city staff report.

The architects have eight weeks to complete draft designs for the arts commission to review, said Mary Lindley, director of the Community Services, Parks and Recreation Department.

After the preliminary plans are reviewed, the arts commission will make recommendations to council members, who are expected to select a final design in a few weeks, city officials said.

"This is a very important project," said Councilmember Keith Millhouse. "It's impossible to put into words the extraordinary debt of gratitude we have for veterans who served our country." The memorial is a small gesture, he noted, but it shows that Moorpark residents care.

"We have to have something in town (to which) we can turn to honor veterans," said Pete Duncan, a longtime Moorpark resident who served with the Marine Corps in Vietnam. Duncan is a member of the American Legion, a patriotic veterans organization that organizes events for Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

At the meeting, Duncan asked city officials to make sure that the memorial is done correctly and with respect.

Local veterans indicated they would like to relocate the components of the existing Veterans Memorial site, which is on the corner of Los Angeles and Moorpark avenues.

They want to incorporate in the new site plaques and stones from the old site, according to assistant city manager Hugh Riley.

The city will use $400,000 from the Art in Public Places fund to complete the memorial's art project.

Lindley said she anticipates the new memorial will be completed in late fall or early winter.