MOORPARK'S RAPID EXPANSION HELPS FUEL SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT CURBS.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Once the hub of east Ventura County, boasting the region's only theater and high school, Moorpark was eclipsed in size and stature decades ago by neighboring Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.

Moorpark regained some ground as the county's fastest-growing city during the 1980s, with the population growing from 8,700 to today's 32,000. Yet longtime residents and transplants from across Southern California alike say a small-town charm remains and the challenge is to maintain that in the face of a renewed growth spurt.

``Moorpark was smaller; it was just pretty,'' Dawn Mortara recalled of 1983, when her husband's job transfer prompted a move to the east county from Tujunga. ``We liked all the hillsides, we liked all the undeveloped area. But we had a feeling.''

For Mortara, the answer is establishing a City Urban Growth Boundary at the city limits. ``It would slow things down, it would give people a voice.''

Mortara helped circulate petitions for the Moorpark SOAR initiative, one of six companion efforts across the county to mandate voter approval before open space or agricultural land can be rezoned for development.

For others, the answer is a similar urban growth boundary drafted by the City Council that includes the massive Hidden Creek project north of the city limits and some limited development beyond the boundary.

``There has to be a balance between population growth, business and conservation,'' said Scott Green, an attorney who moved to the city from Northridge three years ago and then brought his law office to High Street.

``If you move to a city this size, it's exciting to participate and make a difference,'' he said. ``I think a lot of people appreciate that about Moorpark, and I don't really think it's something we would lose if we grow at a reasonable rate.''

Debate deteriorated into rancor as the varying visions of Moorpark's future were pushed on the streets and at council meetings.

Moorpark SOAR supporters gained enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the Nov. 3 election. But leaders asked the City Council to place the measure on the ballot by executive action rather than by the petitions after a lawsuit was filed against the SOAR initiatives based on faulty petition language.

City councils and the county Board of Supervisors placed the other SOAR measures on the ballot. The Moorpark council relied on the petitions. A Ventura Superior Court Judge later struck the measure from the ballot and SOAR supporters were left to qualify a similar initiative for a January special election.

The council-drafted urban growth boundary measure faces voters in November. Moorpark voters also will consider a measure allowing the city to levy a special tax annually of $79 per home and much more for commercial property to buy open space.

Green said he supports the measures because he contends it doesn't reflect the ``elitist attitude'' of the SOAR measure. ``I didn't think when I moved out here that I had the right to prevent somebody else from moving out here or to prevent people from developing their property.''

While the Moorpark SOAR measure was pushed back to the special election in January, also appearing on the same ballot will be a referendum on the 3,221-home Hidden Creek project.

``People who may not be crazy about SOAR still want to vote on Hidden Creek,'' Mortara said. ``The residents of Moorpark are more for open space and more for development within the city than the elected officials are.''