Simi Parks Fed by Grass Roots : Recreation: The agency in charge of the city’s green areas marks 30 years. Early citizen concern is credited.

The first time the lawn was ever mowed at Simi Valley’s Berylwood Park, maintenance worker Dean Kesselring brought his own lawn mower from home to do the job.

That was back in 1964 when the local park district had only 25 acres to manage and Kesselring was its only grounds maintenance worker.

Now, the district owns a total of 2,319 acres of parkland. During the peak growth season, it takes 40 people to care for its 475 developed acres.

And they don’t have to bring their own lawn mowers from home anymore.

This month, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, formed eight years before the city of Simi Valley itself was incorporated, turns 30.

What started out as a grass-roots movement by Simi Valley residents has grown into the largest park district in Ventura County. Park advocates describe it as a “very progressive” district providing quality parks to local residents.

Others contend that Simi Valley wouldn’t have as much parkland if the district had been formed eight years later, when the city was incorporated. By establishing itself in 1961, the district was able to aggressively acquire parkland from developers during a time of rapid growth in the area.

In March, 1961, local residents formed a committee to study the prospect of creating a park district. At the time, only two county-run parks, one near Moorpark and another at the east end of Simi Valley, qualified as local recreation areas.

Simi Valley was then governed by the county; it would not become an incorporated city until 1969.

“The citizens at the time were really concerned about what they saw in the western San Fernando Valley,” said public information officer Rick Johnson, who has worked for the district since 1975. “All those housing tracts were being built and no parkland was being set aside. And that was starting to happen here.”

On Oct. 3, 1961, voters cast 1,398 ballots, choosing by a 3-to-1 margin to form a local park district. The new district was chartered by the state on Oct. 25, 1961, and five board members were sworn in at their first meeting that same day.

The park district borrowed $5,000 from the county to cover its first, seven-month budget of $4,400. Residents also pitched in with an assessment fee, equaling about $25 a year for a home valued at $10,000. Last year, the district collected $4 million in taxes and spent $6.8 million maintaining parkland with a crew of 78 employees.

Park district officials credit the forethought of the citizens group as the key in acquiring its vast amount of parkland and open space.

When the park district was formed, about 8,000 people lived in Simi Valley, compared with 58,500 when the city was incorporated in 1969. Had parkland responsibilities been left to the newly formed city, park advocates would have lost out on a crucial eight years of rapid development, officials said.

“All the attention was centered in the western end of the county then,” said Bonnie Carpenter, park board member since 1987. “Without those early board members prodding the county, there wouldn’t be as much parkland now.”

The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District serves an estimated 115,000 residents in a 113-square-mile area that encompasses Simi Valley and Oak Park. It is one of three special districts in Ventura County--and about 90 in California--that manage parks exclusively.

The park district serves an area larger than the Conejo Recreation and Park District in Thousand Oaks or the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District in Camarillo combined.

Since the opening of Simi Valley’s first developed park in late 1964, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District has acquired a total of 53 park sites, 33 of which are fully or partially developed.

“The quality of life in Simi Valley is what attracts companies and residents and our park district plays a major role in this,” said Nancy Bender, executive director of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Our park district provides us with extreme balance and beauty.”