Seminary property may be developed
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Plans for a 450-unit housing development to be built on the 134-acre hilltop property owned by St. John’s Seminary has raised concerns for a few neighboring Camarillo residents.

At the Camarillo City Council’s study session last week, representatives from real estate developer Shea Homes presented city officials a preview of plans for a housing community that would include both single-family and multiunit homes, as well as a retirement community with an assisted living home.

Residents of the neighboring Pinnacle at Camarillo housing community are worried that density in the proposed development is too high and would diminish the area’s pastoral feel. Neighbors said the development would result in increased traffic on Upland Road.

Cliff Williams, a Pinnacle resident and captain of the Moorpark office of the California Highway Patrol, attended the study session and said he’s concerned that additional commuters would be a problem along the roads in the Mission Oaks area.

“They were suggesting another traffic light and more congestion, and, in my opinion, creating more of an opportunity for more collisions,” Williams said.

Although head of the local CHP office, Williams said he attended the study session as a homeowner, not as a representative of the state agency.

Other residents said they wanted the city to recognize that surrounding communities average about one home per acre. The proposed development would have an average of five homes per acre.

David Lauletta, a vice president and regional manager for Shea, said the presentation was meant to give the City Council a better understanding of the project. Shea plans to ask the council next month to amend the city’s General Plan and rezone the property from agricultural to residential.

Shea Homes originally approached the city about developing the property last January, but was turned down because its plan lacked specific details.

Last week’s presentation included artist’s renderings of the community’s potential layout, its proposed Spanishstyle architecture and a description of parks and open space throughout the development.

Shea officials said Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney and the Los Angeles Archdiocese approached the real estate company in 2003 to discuss the feasibility of developing the property.

Bill Little, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the terms of the deal are dependent on whether or not the council okays the change to the city’s General Plan.

“The value of the property isn’t determined until the City Council approves a project for the property, and that’s when it becomes entitled, so it maximizes the value that Shea will pay,” Little said.

When the property was donated to the archdiocese by Juan Camarillo in the early 1900s, the deal required that any money made on the sale of the land must go to the seminary’s endowment fund, Little said.

Councilmember Mike Morgan said that if the deal is approved, the money could not be used by the archdiocese to pay any settlements related to the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals.

“If it didn’t go for the seminary, I guarantee we wouldn’t vote for it,” Morgan said. “We will make sure it won’t be used for settlement money.”

The seminary’s 45acre campus would remain. Lauletta said Shea wants to develop about 80 acres, now primarily orange and avocado groves.

Lauletta said that of the acreage proposed for development, only about 40 acres would be used for homes. The rest would be designated for parks and open space.

City officials said the plans proposed last week would probably be modified if and when the council rezones the property.

If the General Plan is amended, Lauletta said Shea could break ground in 2009.