Developers Seek to Bring Senior Units to Camarillo and Moorpark

Unrelated senior planned communities are proposed in Camarillo and in Moorpark, according to a pair of Acorn Newspaper reports. In a unanimous Nov. 14 decision, the Camarillo City Council awarded Shea Homes the 281 housing allotments the developer requested to erect a housing community for seniors at the St. John’s Seminary property off Upland Road in Camarillo. The allotment, which exceeded the typical 240-per-year development, will see a combination of duplex, cluster and single-family homes, according to Kevin Harbison, a community development director for Walnut-based Shea Homes. The homes will mostly be single-story structures, although a number of them will have partial second stories. Because rival developers Camino Ruiz, Rancho Associates and Hiji Investment Co. had withdrawn applications for similar housing ventures, Shea Homes was able to garner more allotments than usual for this project. Meanwhile, the Moorpark City Council is considering a large senior living community north of Casey Road and west of Walnut Canyon Road proposed by Aldersgate Investment, an Oxnard-based real estate development and construction firm. It wants to construct a 390-unit senior living facility on a 50-acre lot just south of Meridian Hills and north of Walnut Canyon School. In a 3-0 vote Nov. 27, the city’s planning commission recommended to approve the project. Aldersgate Senior Living Project would see a Spanish-style gated community open to anyone 55 or older with independent and assisted living components. The complex would be comprised of duplex and fourplex villas for independent living and two- and three-story apartment buildings for additional independent living, plus 130 units devoted to memory care and assisted living. Amenities would include a single-story recreation building, memory garden, and common buildings with theater, restaurant, mailroom, pool and salon. As part of the deal, Aldersgate will create 26 affordable housing units and pay the city $5.2 million as an in-lieu fee for low-income housing; broaden Casey Road near the facility’s property line from 40 to 76 feet; and engage in several landscaping endeavors intended to minimize environmental impacts around the property. Matt Mansi, director of forward planning for Aldersgate Investment, predicts the retirement facility will generate roughly 200 jobs. Moorpark’s city council will review the proposal soon, according to the report.