SIMI VALLEY : Officials to Fight Plan for K mart Store

Simi Valley officials said they will recommend against a proposal to build a K mart store across from City Hall because plans for the vacant lot call for an outdoor mall.

K mart representatives, who still hope to persuade the city to support the project, will present plans for the 117,000-square-foot store and accompanying shops at a neighborhood council meeting at 7:30 tonight at City Hall.

But city officials said Wednesday they have already concluded that the proposal does not fit into plans for the vacant lot on the southwest corner of Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street.

“Our opinion is that K mart has not achieved what we want in terms of a development that attracts pedestrian traffic by using a cluster of stores,” said Wolf Ascher, deputy director of current planning.

“If they stick to their standard design of a huge rectangle with parking up front, it’s not going to meet our objectives,” he said.

K mart officials said they still hope to reach a compromise with city officials before the project is heard by the Planning Commission in April.

“We feel as though there’s still potential,” said Michael Theisen, K mart’s project manager. “All of their concerns deal with things that we think are workable.”

K mart has been working for more than a year on plans to build its second store in the city. The neighborhood council has reviewed previous plans and recommended against them, said Randi Joseph, a neighborhood council coordinator.

“I can’t say how it will turn out this time, but it doesn’t look promising,” Joseph said.