SIMI VALLEY : Panel to Reconsider OK on Annexation

At the request of an environmental group, the Ventura County Local Agency Formation Commission will reconsider its decision to allow Simi Valley to annex land for the massive Whiteface housing project north of the city.

In a letter received Friday by the commission, the Ventura County Environmental Coalition’s Moorpark branch requested that LAFCO reconsider allowing the annexation of the 2,686-acre project because of the group’s concerns that the development would encroach on important wildlife habitats and contribute to urban sprawl.

“The easiest place to build is where the richest wildlife habitat is,” said Janet Murphy, president of the coalition’s Moorpark branch. “They’re going to build in the canyons.”

LAFCO Executive Director Stan Eisner said Friday the five-member board will hold a new hearing on the annexation at its next meeting, expected to be held in September.

Los Angeles-based developers Lowe Enterprises and Hermes Development International have proposed building 1,492 houses, 80,000 square feet of retail space and three golf courses in three canyons on the site.

The commission voted 3 to 1 at its June 17 meeting to approve Simi Valley’s request to annex the property.

County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk was the only commission member to vote against the annexation. Commission member Alex Fiore, a Thousand Oaks city councilman, was absent.

Murphy’s group maintains that LAFCO should reverse its decision because the environmental report on the proposed development project doesn’t adequately address how it would affect the mountain lions, badgers, foxes and other animals that live in the canyons.

The group also argued in its letter that the commission should reduce the size of the project so the city would not have to annex all 2,686 acres.

But Simi Valley city officials believe that if they reduce the project’s size they would get less open space land from the developers, Mayor Greg Stratton said. As proposed, more than 1,000 acres of the site would be reserved as parkland.