College urged to keep funds
Ventura Star 2/13/07
The resolution comes amid a long-running dispute between the city of Moorpark and the Ventura County Community College District over who should pay for improvements to some intersections and a portion of a highway near Moorpark College. The resolution will be presented to district trustees when they meet at 7 p.m. on the Oxnard College campus.
An environmental impact study completed by the district concludes that millions of dollars' worth of improvements to the campus, combined with more enrollment there, will add traffic to and from the college.
The improvements, which include a 150-seat lecture hall and a health sciences complex, are being paid for with funds from Measure S, the 2002 initiative that provides $345 million worth of bonds for Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges. A new department building for the college's Exotic Animal Training Management program — the college's Teaching Zoo — is also in the works.
Moorpark city officials say the College District is legally responsible to pay for improvements to nearby intersections and to Highway 118 ramps leading to the 150-acre campus. Moorpark College is situated on the northeast side of the city.
The College District maintains that any added enrollment at the college simply reflects growth that already has taken place in the region. Thus the city should be collecting money from housing developers to pay for traffic improvements brought by that growth.
The environmental impact study buttressed the district's position, finding it had no authority under state law to pay for the impact of added traffic.
"The bond money should be going to improve our colleges, not for attorneys," said James Stueck, chairman of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee.
In fact, the city of Moorpark sued the College District last year, asking that the district be compelled not to approve projects at the college because of its unwillingness to pay for off-campus traffic improvements. The lawsuit alleges the district violated state environmental laws by approving plans for the college without offering ways to reduce traffic.
Joseph Montes, an attorney for the city of Moorpark, said that by law the district must pay for the effects of added traffic brought by projects at the college and increased enrollment.
"It's no different than if a new store were opening up somewhere in town," Montes said. "Under the law, that store would have to pay for the costs associated with the added traffic that it brought."
Moorpark later dropped its lawsuit after district officials agreed to decertify the environmental impact study.
"We're re-evaluating some of the statements in the original EIR," said J. Handel Evans, an architect and consultant for the district who's working closely on Measure S projects.
Moorpark College now has about 14,500 students. But officials expect enrollment will increase in the years as the area's population increases and because of the increase in births, mainly during the 1990s. Exactly how much enrollment will increase at the college is under debate.
The district is asking the state for funding to pay for traffic improvements not only near Moorpark College but also near Oxnard and Ventura colleges.
Ventura County filed a similar lawsuit against the district in 2004. Like Moorpark, the county alleged the district failed to find ways to reduce the adverse impact of traffic around the Oxnard and Ventura campuses. Among other things, the county wanted the district to put $344,619 into a "traffic mitigation" fund, according to its lawsuit.
The county and the district agreed to put that lawsuit on hold while the district goes to the state for money to pay for these projects.
"We want to be good neighbors with the city," said Ray Di Guilio, vice president of business services for Moorpark College. "But the fact that the city is allowing more growth is something that's out of our hands."
Montes, the attorney for the city of Moorpark, said the city will resume its lawsuit against the district should the revised EIR come to conclusions similar to those in the original one.
District officials were closely watching a similar case that pitted the city of Marina, along the coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz, against California State University trustees. At issue was whether CSU Monterey Bay had to pay mitigation costs for projects there to the city of Marina. The California Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that CSU is obliged to request funding from the state Legislature to pay its share of costs for the off-campus impacts brought by projects at CSU Monterey Bay.