SIMI VALLEY : Suit Challenges New Site for Youth Club

The efforts of the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley to get a permanent home may be jeopardized by a homeowners group and a developer that have filed a lawsuit over the project, a Boys & Girls Club official said Monday.

The Alamo Court Homeowners Assn. and Chatsworth-based CPC Enterprises, which owns the Park Plaza office complex on Alamo Street, filed suit in Ventura County Superior Court last week against the city of Simi Valley, the City Council and the Planning Commission.

The Park Plaza office complex is next to the club’s intended site in Rancho Tapo Park, near Alamo Street and Lemon Drive.

The suit says a planned Boys & Girls Club facility would block residents’ views of the Santa Susana Mountains, said Rebecca Merrell, the club’s executive director. Also named in the suit are the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley, the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

A hearing on the suit will be held Thursday at the East County Courthouse, Merrell said.

The Simi Valley city attorney could not be reached for comment.

The planned 25,500-square-foot building was approved by the City Council in March.

The facility would completely block the northerly mountain view of residents of the Alamo Court condominium complex, said Lloyd Green, owner of CPC Enterprises. Alamo Court residents now are able to see the mountains through a 90-foot gap between two of the Park Plaza office buildings, he said.

Merrell said she is concerned that publicity over the suit will hurt the club’s efforts to raise $1.5 million for paying half of the building’s construction cost. The remaining $1.5 million is to be paid by the Community Redevelopment Agency.