COURT HALTS TRACT'S ANNEXATION.Byline: - Daily News A court ruling has stopped - at least temporarily - the proposed 3,221-home Hidden Creek Ranch development that would have increased the city's population by one-third. The 2nd District Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling that invalidates the annexation annexation, in international law, formal act by which a state asserts its sovereignty over a territory previously outside its jurisdiction. Many kinds of territory have been subject to annexation, chief among them those inhabited by settlers of the annexing power, of the 4,322-acre project site northeast of Moorpark. ``I think the project that was originally proposed is probably dead,'' said Moorpark Councilman Clint Harper, who was not in office when the city submitted its annexation application to the Local Agency Formation Commission. ``But I think they will develop their property.'' Upset about the potential effects of the project on the community, the ecological group Environmental Coalition filed suit in 1998, claiming that LAFCO LAFCO Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCO Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative improperly approved the annexation. ``There are some other options (for the developer), but they are beginning to narrow rapidly,'' said Richard Francis Richard Francis (dates unknown) was a famous English cricketer who played for the Hambledon Club. Francis is known to have been a Surrey man by birth and he had played for Surrey teams before moving to Hampshire. He made 47 known first-class appearances from 1773 until 1793. , an attorney for the Environmental Coalition. The matter will be discussed during a closed session with the commission May 16, Chief Assistant County Counsel Noel Klebaum said. Messenger Investment Co. Inc., the Costa Mesa-based developer that wants to build the tract as part of the city, declined comment. The appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. found that LAFCO's 1998 approval ``was not based on substantial evidence'' in determining that the project would provide the necessary public facilities and services. The project has been planned for more than a decade, but has been mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . ``I was very pleased to see the appellate court sustain the decision of the lower court,'' Harper said. ``I thought it was too much of an impact to the community - in particular, the traffic that would be dumped down on Highway 118. ``I thought the project was too dense and had too many units in it and would not provide any type of housing we don't already have in the community.'' |
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