MOORPARK : City to Consider Kavlico Expansion

The Moorpark City Council on Wednesday will consider a request by the city’s largest employer to nearly double the size of its plant and hire 300 new workers.

Kavlico Corp. wants to build a two-story, 91,549-square-foot building next to its existing 122,400-square-foot plant on Los Angeles Avenue and to add up to 300 employees to its work force of 780, according to a city report.

The company, which makes sensing devices for the automotive and aerospace industries, had threatened to leave if the city could not speed the review of its application. Kavlico applied for the expansion in December and needs the new building by fall to service some new contracts, the report said.

Mayor Paul Lawrason said Monday that he favors the expansion and is glad that the city and Kavlico were able to work together to expedite the review.

“Obviously, the threat of the entire operation leaving the city is pretty dramatic,” Lawrason said.

Litton Aero Products, a Los Angeles-based defense contractor that had been Moorpark’s largest employer, moved all operations out of the city in December in a cost-cutting consolidation.

The report said traffic impact from the building would be minimal if the connection of the Simi Valley and Moorpark freeways is completed by the time that the new building opens.

Lawrason said any traffic inconvenience would be temporary and would be offset by the benefits of an expanded industrial base.

The council will consider the project at its 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday in City Hall, 799 Moorpark Ave.