SIMI VALLEY : Plans for Price Club Are Pushed Forward

Despite lingering questions about traffic and the building’s appearance, the Simi Valley Planning Commission has pushed forward plans to bring a Price Club discount store to Simi Valley before Christmas.

Store officials agreed to a number of concessions about the project’s layout and said they would agree to change the company’s traditional store design to get quick approval and meet their goal of a November opening.

“We did give up some of the things we normally would have pursued, but we wanted to be in this community, and we wanted to be open in time for our peak season,” said Kathy Nishihira, development director for the San Diego-based Price Club chain.

The City Council, which will consider several proposed zone changes, must approve the project before construction can begin. Nishihira said the company planned to break ground the day after the council’s vote, expected on June 13.

The 135,000-square-foot store would be located off Madera Road near the Simi Valley Freeway in an industrial park.

Several times during a lengthy debate at Wednesday night’s Planning Commission meeting, the project was attacked by commissioners because of traffic and design problems.

Commissioners forced a change in the store’s traffic plan to prevent shoppers from exiting onto Cochran Street. They also agreed to review the traffic pattern six months after the project was under way to see if there are problems.

The commission also forced Price Club to screen the proposed store’s roof-mounted air-conditioning and heating units so the equipment would not be visible from the freeway.

“If they’re going to have to put all that equipment on the roof, I think they should have to cover it up,” Commissioner Robert Swoish said.

The store intends to hold interviews for an undetermined number of prospective employees in late August.