MOORPARK ANNEXATION CLEARS HURDLE; SPECIAL ELECTION STILL MAY LIE AHEAD ON 3,221-HOME PLAN AT HIDDEN CREEK RANCH.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

The Local Agency Formation Commission, a countywide board with broad powers over boundaries, Wednesday approved the annexation of 4,322 acres to Moorpark for the controversial 3,221-home Hidden Creek Ranch project.

The commission's 5-0 vote set the stage for a special election Jan. 12, the final hurdle that Costa Mesa developer Messenger Investment Co. must clear before breaking ground on Moorpark's largest-ever housing project.

``This is a positive step for the Hidden Creek project,'' said Glen Reiser, an attorney for Messenger. ``This approval is the culmination of many years of hard work by city staff and the people of the Moorpark community who are interested in the long-term economic vitality of their city.''

Messenger hopes to start building in 2000 and finish 17 years later. About 10,000 people would live in the 3,221 homes. The developer estimates the project would generate $50 million in public revenues.

``That's money the city can put into libraries, new roads, parks, infrastructure, police and fire services,'' Reiser said.

The developer's agreement with the City Council calls for 2,000 of the 4,322 acres to be designated as open space and for the developer to pay $12 million in fees for a Highway 118 bypass.

But plans could be delayed or killed in the special election Jan. 12.

Voters on Tuesday narrowly approved the council's version of a Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources measure, which creates the city's first boundary line, one that includes Hidden Creek Ranch as a potential development area.

Passage of a rival, initiative version of the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources measure, popularly called SOAR, would exclude the Hidden Creek Ranch site, just north of Moorpark College.

If the initiative passes, adding the ranch would then require voter approval in a separate election.

Roseann Mikos, co-author of the SOAR initiative version, called the measure adopted Tuesday ``a watered-down version of SOAR,'' maneuvered onto the ballot first.

``The original Moorpark SOAR that was proposed last April has a more restrictive boundary that people overwhelmingly wanted to vote on but were prevented from doing so by the politics on the majority of the City Council,'' she said. ``I'm very confident that come Jan. 12, we will pass the people's Moorpark SOAR.''

The special election also will be a referendum on the development agreement between Messenger and the city, which the council approved in August.

Reiser is scheduled to appear in a Simi Valley court Nov. 17 to argue that the planned referendum should be called off because the petition calling for the vote was allegedly deficient. It contained different language from that in the actual agreement approved by the council, Reiser said.