City to remove buildings for new housing developments
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

City officials, Wednesday, approved the demolition of three houses in downtown Moorpark to make way for two new residential developments and a road widening project.

A property owned by the city at 14245 Princeton Avenue will be removed to accommodate the widening and realignment of Princeton Avenue between Spring Road and South of Condor Drive. The entire project required rightof-way on 38 parcels. To date, 26 of those parcels have been acquired and the city only needs about 10 feet from each of the remaining parcels, said Yugall Lall, city engineer for Moorpark.

The other two structures at 460 Charles Street and 1095 Walnut Canyon Road will be removed in preparation for new residential projects.

Redevelopment law requires new developments in the downtown area to have at least 15 percent of the units set aside for moderate, low and very low income families but the city usually tries to incorporate more than that into its projects, said David Moe, redevelopment agency manager.

The two above projects will take about three years to complete, he said. "We're still working to figure what will go there, but they will be housing projects with an affordable component," Moe said.

City officials also reviewed the agency's 5-year implementation plan that was created in 2005. Since then the agency has completed many of its goals, including the construction of Magnolia Park and funding of $1.2 million to repair streets in the project area, Moe said.

The agency also acquired a relocation site for J.E. Clark's fueling station now located on High Street (next to Kahoots) and it developed 232 affordable units so far. "The goal for 5 years was 150 units, Moe said.

City officials projected they would create 150 new affordable units by 2009 but the agency has surpassed that already, Moe said. "We've succeeded with 232 so far," he said.

Most of the new low cost units are in the Village Crest apartment complex that was built in 2005 and the remaining 42 homes are single family dwellings that were incorporated into several new housing developments constructed in the downtown area since 2005.

At the meeting, city leaders also voted to lease two residential properties owned by the redevelopment agency. One unit is vacant now and the other is occupied by a renter who wishes to renew the lease, Moe said. Properties will be leased at a fair market value until they are ready to be redeveloped.