Local News in Brief : Slow-Growth Initiative on Moorpark Ballot

Slow-growth activists in Moorpark have scored another victory with a City Council decision to place on the November ballot an initiative that would rescind an agreement between the city and a developer building 2,500 homes.

The council action came after more than 10% of the city’s registered voters signed a petition circulated by the Committee for Managed Growth, City Clerk Doris Bankus said Thursday.

The council, which approved the contract with Urban West Communities of Santa Monica, had the option of rescinding the contract outright or sending the initiative before voters.

Bankus said that 941 signatures were deemed valid, more than the 697 needed to reach the 10% mark.

The council action Monday means that Moorpark will decide the fate of two growth-related measures promoted by the citizens’ committee. The other is a plan to limit construction of housing units to 250 a year, excluding projects such as senior-citizen and low-income housing and single-family homes on five acres or more.

Approval of the newest initiative would force the council to abandon its agreement relating to the 2,500-unit Mountain Meadows development, the city’s largest.

Under the agreement, Urban West Communities could build up to 325 homes a year over 12 years and remain exempt from any slow-growth law. In exchange for those concessions from the city, Urban West would provide traffic improvements, including a four-lane bridge, school sites and a park.