Simi Activists Cheer Deadlock That Kills Shell Oil Proposal

Neighborhood activists claimed a victory Tuesday after a Simi Valley City Council deadlock shot down Shell Oil Co.’s plan to build a gas station, carwash and mini-mart at Yosemite Avenue and the Simi Valley Freeway.

The corner has been a flash point for residents’ fears that traffic, noise and crime problems would invade their affluent hillside neighborhood.

City officials earlier this year gave McDonald’s permission to build a restaurant next to the proposed Shell site, even though residents argued that it was not compatible with the nearby housing tracts.

But just before midnight on Monday, after a four-hour hearing, a City Council motion to approve the gas station failed in a 2-2 vote.

Neighborhood opponents, led by Citizens for a Safe and Scenic Simi Valley, were pleased with the result. But they were dismayed that their detailed objections did not impress Councilwomen Judy Mikels and Sandi Webb, who favored the Shell plan.

“It was a bittersweet victory,” Eileen Gordon, one of the activists, said. “We would definitely feel better if we thought we had made an impact on the other two council members.”

Gordon said Citizens for a Safe and Scenic Simi Valley would not necessarily oppose other projects at the Shell site. She said a dinner-house restaurant or a low-rise office building would not create as much traffic or be open 24 hours, as the Shell station would.

Monday’s split vote was identical to the council’s deadlock in March on the McDonald’s plan. Webb and Mikels supported both, but Mayor Greg Stratton and Councilman Michael Piper opposed them.

Both deadlocks meant the council took no action, and the earlier Planning Commission decisions remained in effect. The commission had approved the McDonald’s, but it rejected the Shell plan.

On each of the projects, Councilman Bill Davis abstained. Some critics have contended that the restaurant and gas station would affect nearby property values, and Davis, who owns a house nearby, said he wanted to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

Shell Oil can reapply to build the station. The council’s makeup will change after next week’s election because Piper, an appointee who voted against the project, is not running for his seat.

F. Duggan Smith, the Shell executive who proposed the project, could not be reached for comment Tuesday regarding the company’s plans.

Mikels said she supported the Shell proposal partly because she believed that the location, on a major street next to a freeway ramp, was not too close to area houses.

“My personal opinion is that it’s a real stretch to say that site is in a residential neighborhood,” the councilwoman said. “My feeling was that it was a good project.”

Mikels and Webb also said they did not believe that Citizens for a Safe and Scenic Simi Valley represented residents throughout that section of the city. The councilwomen said other residents favored the construction of a McDonald’s and a Shell station on Yosemite Avenue.

Stratton said he voted against the gas station because it was poor city planning.

“This and the McDonald’s are not the kind of neighborhood uses that were envisioned for that site,” the mayor said. “The intensity of use--the number of cars, the number of lights--and the types of uses were not compatible with the neighborhood.”