MOORPARK : Developer Has Plans for Old School Site

An Agoura Hills developer is preparing to file papers seeking city permission for a 110-home development on the site of the former Moorpark High School, and expects to buy half the 26-acre site if city officials approve the concept for the project.

Although the property is still owned by the Moorpark school board, school officials met in closed session Tuesday night to outline the terms and sale price for 13 acres off of Casey Road.

Plans for the sale are far from final, Supt. Thomas Duffy said. But the district and the developer, the Braemar Corp., have already laid out some of the terms of the sale, he said.

The district is asking for $3 million to $4 million for the property, and will use a portion of the revenue from the sale to build a new elementary school on the remainder of the property, Duffy said.

Braemar officials have said they would use the site to build moderately priced homes, but the sale is contingent upon the city’s signing off on the plans.

After the high school closed in 1988, the school district and the Moorpark City Council were at loggerheads about what to do with the property. City officials wanted to purchase part of the site for a downtown park, but the district would not sell the property at a reduced price, so the city sued.