More Moderate Than Private Group’s Proposals : Simi Valley Submits Growth Controls to Voters

Hoping to upstage a community group’s proposals for pervasive controls on housing growth and hillside development, the Simi Valley City Council on Wednesday placed two less restrictive initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The council’s initiatives will compete with measures promoted by Citizens for Managed Growth and Hillside Protection, which earned a spot on the ballot through a petition drive that collected signatures of more than 10% of the city’s voters.

With two opposing pairs of initiatives now advanced, the stage is set for a tough referendum battle on growth in Simi Valley, a city of 93,000 whose proximity to Los Angeles has drawn thousands of residents to its housing tracts.

The council unanimously adopted both its proposals--one suggesting a 10-year plan controlling population growth, the other covering hillside development--at a special morning session Wednesday at City Hall.

“This will allow the continued economic vitality of this community . . . as far as jobs, commerce and providing public services to residents,” Mayor Elton Gallegly said. “The alternative would bring growth to a screeching halt.”

The mayor reiterated arguments that the private group’s plan could jeopardize the building of a major shopping center in Simi Valley and crimp city sales-tax proceeds--the city does not assess property taxes--by discouraging business expansion.

In a final version completed Tuesday and previously modified through a series of public hearings and staff reports, the council’s initiatives propose a 10-year plan under which population would be allowed to grow to 105,106 by 1991 and 114,354 by 1996.

Permits for a maximum of 2,140 dwelling units could be issued through 1991, and the city could restrict the flow of permits per year if population appeared to be rising faster than expected.

Building permits already guaranteed under a contract with the developers of Wood Ranch, a 3,000-unit project in western Simi Valley, would not be counted. City officials estimate that Wood Ranch will add 1,373 of its units over the next five years and 2,952 through 1996.

Stricter Controls

The private group’s plan, in contrast, would create year-to-year controls on the rate, distribution, quality and type of housing development in the city for 25 years.

Although exempting Wood Ranch and housing projects of four units or less, the proposal would set a limit of 10,800 residential units through 2010, with a declining number issued each year.

The council’s hillside measure would forbid commercial and industrial development on a slope with a grade of more than 10%--unless such development is part of the city’s plan for the area. (Under existing city law, residential development is effectively banned on hillsides with grades of more than 20%, and housing density must be decreased on slopes of 10% to 20%.)

The slow-growth group’s plan would preclude the leveling of slopes steeper than 10% for any industrial and commercial projects.

Developers and business leaders have argued that the citizens group’s initiatives would stunt commercial growth and needlessly stem the influx of new residents. Council members have charged that the group’s lengthy proposals conflict with existing regulations on buildings and flood control and would lock the city into fixed growth limits for more than two decades.

But the slow-growth group contends that its measures will better prevent commercial sprawl and protect scenic hillsides.

Gallegly predicted that the Simi business community will rally behind the council’s initiatives.