2 Sides Collide at Mall Site Over Simi Growth-Control Initiatives

The two sides in the campaign over growth-control proposals on Simi Valley’s Nov. 4 ballot clashed again Friday, with one group crashing the other’s press conference and both sides debating a proposal for a new shopping mall.

Waving signs that read “Stop the rape of our business,” foes of one set of ballot measures--which would curb growth in the city and prohibit development on hillsides--invaded the press conference called by supporters of the measures.

The protesters support another set of ballot measures, which would allow more development.

Mall Proposed

The peaceful confrontation was at an 80-acre, undeveloped parcel near the Simi Valley Freeway. A developer last week announced plans to build a long-sought regional shopping mall on the parcel.

In announcing tentative plans for the enclosed mall, executives with the development firm of Melvin Simon & Associates Inc. said last Friday that the project would be scuttled if the voters approve the tougher growth controls, Measures D and E.

The company acknowledged that it was taking the unusual step of announcing its mall plans in a very preliminary version in hopes of swaying voters’ opinions.

Louis Pandolfi, co-chairman of the slow-growth group supporting Measures D and E, said most members of his group are not opposed to a mall at the hillside location. But he criticized the developer for announcing plans for the mall without disclosing the types of department stores that will be the three anchor stores there.

Most of the shopping centers built by Simon have included K Marts and J. C. Penneys instead of more upscale stores such as Broadway and May Co., which are what Simi Valley needs, Pandolfi said.

‘Show Us’

“All we’re saying is, show us what type of mall will be built,” he said.

Michael Marr, Simon’s vice president for development, disputed Pandolfi, saying, “I don’t know where they get their information from. In our regional shopping centers across the country, we run the full gamut of department stores.”

He said no department stores have been signed up and that none will be “without first talking to the community, which will have a voice.”

Not to be outdone, supporters of the less restrictive ballot measures, A and B, which were placed on the ballot by the City Council, held their own press conference at their headquarters immediately after the one by the slow-growth group.

Hal Geer, a spokesman for the group supporting Measures A and B, said a number of businesses are “going to get killed” if zoning proposed by the slow-growth measures goes into effect.