Council Pledges Not to Develop Greenbelt

The Moorpark City Council has adopted a resolution backing Ventura County’s drive to preserve farmland by vowing not to annex and develop the nearby Tierra Rejeda Greenbelt.

Responding to county Supervisor Frank Schillo’s request for a written agreement to protect the greenbelt, the Moorpark council proposed that the Board of Supervisors and the three cities bordering the land--Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley are the other two--develop a conservation plan for the area.

“Eighty-four percent of the greenbelt lies within the Moorpark area of interest,” Mayor Pat Hunter said. “It reaffirms that we find value in the concepts of greenbelts and the preservation of the 2,800 acres.”

Moorpark is the first of the three cities to respond to Schillo.

“They [Moorpark] are proposing actual dollars that would be used to strengthen the greenbelt,” said Susan Clay, Schillo’s field deputy.

Hunter said the greenbelt would serve as a buffer between the three towns. “We are trying to retain each individual community’s character,” Hunter said. “What we don’t want is a blending of communities where there is no distinction between where one community stops and one starts.”