Simi Valley Expects to Get Grant for Hopetown Today

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is expected today to award the city of Simi Valley and its local park district $1 million in recently acquired state funds for the purchase of Hopetown.

The grant money, part of a $20-million bill signed by Gov. George Deukmejian last week to finance similar projects statewide, is to be used by the city and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District to purchase 172 acres of the former movie ranch for development as a regional park.

Hopetown is in the southeast corner of the city, south of the Simi Valley Freeway at Kuehner Drive and Smith Road.

The city and the park district, which will own and operate the Hopetown parkland under a joint-powers agreement, will also ask the conservancy for an additional $800,000 to $1 million in grant money to improve the land, said Joe Hinsberg of the Simi Valley city manager’s office.

Joseph Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency, said a public hearing tonight will probably not include any award of additional money for improvements to the Hopetown property. The hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Simi Valley City Council chambers.

Purchase Comes First

“There will probably be about $500,000 available for development of the property,” Edmiston said. “But the first thing is to buy it and then later figure out how to improve it.”

Griffin Homes, of Calabasas, which is buying the entire 212-acre property for $4.6 million from entertainer Bob Hope, will seek city approval next month to build 233 single-family homes on 40 acres of the land, said Elaine Freeman, company vice president.

The company has tentatively agreed to sell 172 acres of Hopetown to the city and park district for $1 million, Freeman said. In addition, the park district and city have offered to discount about $700,000 in development fees for the Griffin Homes housing project, she said.

Appraisers hired by the conservancy estimated the 172 acres to be worth about $2.7 million, city officials said.

More than 3,500 movies and television episodes were shot at Hopetown, formerly called Corriganville. The name of the movie set was changed after comedian Hope purchased the property in 1965.

The city and park district plan to build picnic areas, hiking and equestrian trails and overnight camping facilities on the property, officials said.