COUNCIL DELAYS MOORPARK DATE FOR SOAR VOTE.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

In an effort to save money, the City Council has forestalled scheduling a special election for the Moorpark SOAR initiative until the fate of the Hidden Creek Ranch referendum is known.

Although the council initially voted Wednesday to put the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative to a vote Dec. 15, members postponed the election until January.

They did so with the blessing of SOAR supporters, who want the referendum opposing the 3,200-home development to be on the same ballot as the slow-growth initiative.

``Obviously, for those of us who want to see them both passed, it makes our jobs that much easier (to have them on the same ballot),'' said Lori Rutter, a member of the Moorpark SOAR committee. ``There's a lot of work to be done. These things don't pass without some work behind the scenes.''

This week, the activists submitted over 2,400 signatures seeking to qualify the Hidden Creek Ranch referendum for a special election - an event that will cost at least $22,000 and could go higher, based on the number of issues on the ballot.

City Clerk Deborah Traffenstedt said she has done a rough count of those signatures - counting 2,423 valid ones - and expects to forward them to the county registrar of voters by today.

Also expected to be forwarded are nearly 500 forms from residents who signed the referendum but want to rescind their support.

In postponing the special election, the council called for a report on the financial impact of the SOAR initiative and its effect on area affordable housing numbers. That report is due Oct. 7. If it is approved, then the special election could be scheduled for Jan. 5 or 12.

The hope is that by the time the report is issued, the Hidden Creek Ranch referendum will have gone through the process of being approved or rejected for a special-election ballot and the issues can be scheduled at the same time.

While the vote to postpone the special election was unanimous, one council member voiced his opposition to having to finesse the scheduling at all.

``We could have avoided this by taking the wise and reasonable route three months ago,'' said Mayor Patrick Hunter on Thursday.

Early this summer, the council voted to put the original SOAR initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot, along with Measure F, the city's own growth-boundary measure.

But the council left the citywide SOAR initiative vulnerable to a legal challenge to the wording on its petition. When SOAR opponents prevailed in court, the initiative was taken off the November ballot.

And although SOAR supporters were able to turn in enough signatures with a chance to requalify for the coming election, the process ultimately took too much time and it missed a deadline, thus forcing a special election.