LAFCO to Expedite Hearing for Simi : Annexation: The city may apply to expand its planning limits. Officials shy away from calling it a victory for the Jordan Ranch project.

Ventura County planners agreed Wednesday to grant Simi Valley’s request for a speedy hearing on a proposal to expand the city’s planning boundaries.

City officials were reluctant to call the Local Agency Formation Commission’s decision a victory in its pursuit of annexing Bob Hope’s Jordan Ranch, where a development of 750 residences is planned.

But Mayor Gregory Stratton said that if LAFCO decides in the next few months to reject the proposal for the city to expand its area of interest, “it will save everybody a lot of time and effort and money. We just want to know if we’re barking up the wrong tree.”

LAFCO unanimously agreed to allow the city to apply for an expansion of its long-term planning boundaries--its “area of interest”--without first completing a full General Plan amendment, which officials estimate would take up to two years.

However, the commission denied the city’s request to change its procedures regarding “sphere of influence” changes, which do require a completed General Plan amendment and an environmental impact report before being considered.

A sphere of influence is the actual physical boundary and service area of a city, while the area of interest represents a larger zone around a city that could be developed in the future.

Sam Freed, Simi Valley’s senior planner, said he did not know when a LAFCO hearing would be scheduled regarding the city’s area-of-interest expansion. He said he needed to talk to county officials to determine what information they would require to make a decision.

Fearing that the County Board of Supervisors would reject his Jordan Ranch development, Hope and Potomac Investment Associates turned to Simi Valley in July with the annexation proposal.

In addition to 2,308 acres of his Jordan Ranch property, Hope has asked the city to annex 3,600 acres of his Runkle Ranch. The properties are part of the Santa Monica and Santa Susana mountains.

If annexation goes through and his development is approved, Hope has promised to sell and donate 5,700 acres of wilderness to park agencies for a below-market price of $10 million.

Hope has also said he would not sell Blind Canyon, part of the Runkle Ranch site, to the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts to be used as a landfill. Runkle Ranch straddles both Ventura and Los Angeles counties and has been deemed an appropriate site for a trash dump.