Judge Backs Moorpark in School Land Dispute

A Ventura Superior Court judge issued a preliminary judgement Monday in favor of the city of Moorpark, which is in a legal dispute with its school district over a property sale.

In his preliminary ruling, Judge Bruce Thompson sided with the city, which has sued the Moorpark Unified School District to force it to sell eight acres of surplus property to the city for a park.

Thompson’s ruling has no immediate effect but indicates the direction of his thinking. He is scheduled to hear oral arguments and make a final ruling in the case Sept. 1.

The school district claims that the property, part of a 26-acre parcel on Casey Road, is worth $980,000. The city offered the district $319,750, under a provision of the state education code known as the Naylor Act, in which a city is allowed to purchase 30% of a district’s surplus school sites for as little as 25% of market value.

Meanwhile, the district has filed a separate suit in Ventura Superior Court claiming that the city’s downtown redevelopment plan deprives the district of sufficient property tax revenue and ignores other environmental impacts on three school sites in the area.