MOORPARK : Builders Urge City to Settle Fee Dispute

A group of Moorpark developers who have waited more than two years to begin their projects is urging the City Council to resolve a dispute with a planning consultant that is delaying approval of its proposals.

The 10 development projects will be approved only if they fit into the city’s General Plan update, Planning Director Patrick Richards said. The update, a recipe for future development, will lay out changes in land use and traffic routes around the city, he said.

The City Council hired PBR, a private consulting firm, to prepare the update more than two years ago. Although PBR completed the report about two months ago, a dispute over the firm’s fees has held up its release and the developers’ projects.

The city is considering all alternatives to end the dispute, Mayor Paul Lawrason said, including possibly hiring a consultant to replace PBR. But some developers have urged city officials to continue with PBR regardless of the cost.

Dennis Hardgrave, who represents Levy Co., one of the developers, told the council last week that the developers will help pay PBR’s fees that are in dispute.

The 10 projects covered by the update would involve about 1,000 acres and add at least 3,556 houses as well as commercial and industrial buildings, Planning Department spokesman Debbie Traffenstedt said.