Group Opposes Tying Cemetery to Commercial Project

A plan to tie a proposed cemetery to a 50-acre commercial development has drawn strong opposition from a Simi Valley homeowners group that opposes such construction along the Simi Valley Freeway.

Mt. Sinai Memorial Park has announced that it will seek approval for a 150-acre cemetery north of the freeway near Kuehner Drive. Some community leaders have praised the proposal as a way to preserve the scenic hills from residential development.

But Mt. Sinai officials have proposed to finance the cemetery’s development by selling about 50 acres at Yosemite Avenue and the freeway to a commercial developer.

A group called Citizens for a Safe and Scenic Simi Valley has vowed to fight the commercial development proposal.

“We’re definitely opposed and we’ll take it on when it comes up,” Lesley Barncard, vice chairman of the group, said Thursday.

The organization fears that commercial development would create traffic hazards on Yosemite and pose an eyesore to motorists along the scenic freeway, she said.

Some city officials say residents’ opposition to the proposed commercial buildings could derail the entire cemetery plan.

In any case, Mt. Sinai officials will apply by the end of the month for approval to develop the cemetery and commercial buildings on the 381-acre Douglas Ranch, said Robert H. Levonian, a consultant to the cemetery. The other 181 acres of the ranch property would be set aside for parkland and open space, he said.

Mt. Sinai, which operates an 80-acre cemetery in the Hollywood Hills near Burbank, is seeking room to expand.

Cemetery officials were encouraged by the tentative support of the neighborhood council that represents the east end of Simi Valley, Levonian said.

Although the council hasn’t approved the development proposal, its members voted earlier this week in favor of Mt. Sinai’s decision to start the permit process.

One neighborhood council member, Aaron Starr, said it would be a good trade-off to get the cemetery in exchange for allowing some commercial development along the freeway.

“I think it’s a win-win situation,” Starr said.

“You have land that will never be built on, that will be well- maintained,” he said, referring to the cemetery. “The alternative is down the road, eventually, houses will be built in the area.”

Most of the Mt. Sinai property is zoned for residential development, Starr said. In addition, he said, the property at the freeway and Yosemite Avenue is appropriate for commercial buildings.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb agreed, saying that properties next to freeways are better locations for commercial buildings than houses. “It’s a lousy place to put housing,” she said. “It’s noisy.”

But Barncard said her group would rather see residential development at the Yosemite Avenue site. The citizens group, made up mainly of homeowners from the upscale Indian Hills neighborhood near the north end of Yosemite, has already fought several recent development proposals.

This week, the organization convinced the Planning Commission to turn down a proposal for a service station at Yosemite and the freeway because of traffic concerns.

Barncard said the group doesn’t oppose the proposed cemetery. But members do not think getting the cemetery would be worth allowing the commercial development.

“We would find that an unconscionable trade-off,” she said.

She added that the members are not convinced that Mt. Sinai needs to build the commercial development to pay for the cemetery.

“We feel that would be a very sweet commercial deal for them,” Barncard said. “We don’t necessarily trust their motives.”

Mt. Sinai Memorial Park is owned by Sinai Temple in Beverly Hills. The cemetery is nonprofit and all its income goes to the temple, which distributes the money to charity, Levonian said.

Mayor Greg Stratton said the council may be reluctant to change the city’s General Plan to allow commercial buildings because of residents’ concerns about traffic and aesthetics.

The City Council is expected to hold an initial hearing on the Mt. Sinai proposal Oct. 26.