Panel Rejects Condo Plan for Hopetown

A Calabasas developer has lost its bid to build a 300-unit condominium project in Simi Valley’s Hopetown, a 212-acre movie ranch owned by Bob Hope.

The proposal by Griffin Homes to build the condominiums on 17 acres near the center of the ranch was unanimously rejected Wednesday by the Simi Valley Planning Commission. Griffin Homes has already won city approval to build 238 single-family homes on 40 acres of the property along Kuehner Drive.

Several area residents have complained that the condominium development would ruin a local landmark. The ranch was used until the early 1950s as the setting for several films and for the Lone Ranger television series. The property has been closed to the public since 1962, however, when Bob Hope bought it from the late Western movie actor, Ray Corrigan, and it became known as Hopetown.

“I don’t feel the least bit sorry for them that they lost their gamble,” homeowner Ed Sloman said. “The high-density housing is just not appropriate for that area.”

Elaine L. Freeman, a representative of Griffin Homes, said Thursday that the decision of the Planning Commission was understandable “considering what’s going on in Simi now.” She was referring to the city’s passage of two 45-day moratoriums on new development in many areas.

Griffin Homes had originally proposed an industrial park on the site, and won city approval for that. But the developer decided to change the project to condominiums after encountering strong local resistance to the industrial-park proposal.

Griffin Homes’ request to change projects required an amendment to the city’s general plan, said Bob Wieting, the Planning Commission vice chairman. The commission, in its 5-0 vote Wednesday, rejected such an amendment.

The existing general plan calls for high-density projects to be built on the floor of Simi Valley, with the density decreasing as development approaches the hillsides, Wieting said.

“I can’t imagine a location a whole lot more peripheral,” Wieting said of the ranch, which is on a ridge near the city limits.

Wieting said that Griffin Homes has the option of resubmitting a new proposal to the Planning Commission next year when it conducts its quarterly land-use review hearings.

“Considering the positions we had taken, we wouldn’t look too favorably on another similar proposal” for high-density housing in that area, he said.

Freeman said Griffin Homes is studying new proposals for the property and might return to the industrial development plan.

“Something is going to happen to those 17 acres,” Freeman said.

As part of the condominium project, Freeman said, Griffin Homes had planned to donate 155 acres--consisting of open space, rocky hillsides and a wooded area known as Sherwood Forest--to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District for public use.

Griffin Homes’ purchase of the movie ranch is contingent on approval of the condominium project, Freeman said.