Vote on Simi Park Permit Delayed : Corriganville: Planners want more information on how noise and traffic will affect the adjacent neighborhood.

Citing concerns about added traffic and noise at the east end of Simi Valley, the city’s Planning Commission on Wednesday postponed approving a permit to develop a community park on the former Corriganville movie ranch.

The commissioners said they wanted more information about the effect of traffic, noise, parking and bright lights on an adjacent residential neighborhood. They said they also wanted greater assurances that the more than 600 trees on the property would be preserved during the park’s construction.

“I’m not opposed to the park,” said Commissioner Robert Swoish. “But this is not ready to be approved tonight. There needs to be a lot more work done on this.”

Swoish was joined by Commissioner Dave McCormick in the 2-1 vote to postpone a decision until Sept. 1, on whether to issue a development permit to the Rancho Simi Open Space Conservation Agency. The agency is a joint city-park district panel formed to oversee the park’s development.

Commissioner Sherida Simmons voted against the delay. Commissioners Michael Piper and Dean Kunicki were absent from the meeting.

The decision further delays the the long-planned $4.3-million park, that if built, would include a new visitors’ center, horse stables, picnic areas, playgrounds, on-site parking, and an outdoor amphitheater.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Bonnie Carpenter, a member of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. She said that her staff has been working on the project for five years and the commissioners’ comments suggested that they are unfamiliar with the extensive research.

Don Hunt, assistant general manager of the park district, said he was confident the conservation agency could assemble material that answers all of the commission’s questions by Sept. 1.

Once approved, however, he said it could be two years or more before officials line up all of the money needed to build the park.

Park officials plan to get most of the money from state and federal grants, but cannot apply for such grants until they receive a development permit from the Planning Commission.

Hunt pointed out that the estimated construction cost of $4.3 million was calculated in 1988, and the park’s construction may actually cost 10% to 15% more.

But Hunt said it’s possible that the park district may be able to get a deal on the construction costs because of the current economic slump. He also said if the conservancy is able to raise money through the private sector, that work could possibly begin sooner than anticipated.

Hunt said that designers have completed 85% of all the architectural drawings for the park facilities.

The 204-acre Corriganville property, once the site of the Corriganville movie ranch and Wild West amusement park, is located east of Kuehner Drive between the Simi Valley Freeway and the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. The land was purchased jointly by the city, park district and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in 1988.

Meanwhile, a separate private organization called the Corriganville Preservation Committee is trying to raise money to restore some of the old Western movie sets that once stood on the site.

The former movie ranch--where thousands of Western movies and television shows were shot, mainly during the 1940s and 1950s--was closed to the public in 1967. Its famous sets were destroyed in a fire in 1970.