Simi Council Approves Plan for New Price Club : Development: Officials say they expect the large discount store to net the city $280,000 a year in sales tax revenue.

Struggling to boost sales tax revenue, the Simi Valley City Council approved a land-use plan Monday that will allow the Price Club to build its second Ventura County outlet in the city.

Council members changed the zoning for the 17-acre area from industrial to commercial to allow construction of a 135,000-square-foot store off Madera Road, south of the Simi Valley Freeway.

The move comes seven months after voters rejected a plan to build a Wal-Mart store on a hillside site, and only a week after K mart abandoned plans to build a second store in the city.

“This store will fill a gap and give us a needed shot in the arm in sales tax revenue,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “I think it’s going to be a real benefit to the city.”

The new store is expected to net about $280,000 a year in sales tax, a welcome boost to the city’s economy, Mayor Greg Stratton said.

“This is better than a K mart or a Wal-Mart because we already have those type of stores,” Stratton said. “We don’t have anything like the Price Club, so people are leaving Simi Valley to do this kind of shopping, taking the sales tax with them.”

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After peaking at $6.9 million in fiscal year 1990-91, sales tax revenue in the city dropped to $6.3 million in 1991-92, then rebounded to $6.8 million in 1992-93, Deputy City Manager Bob Heitzman said.

The climb is expected to continue, Heitzman said, with projected sales tax revenue for 1993-94 at $7.6 million.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb said the Simi Valley Price Club would lure shoppers who live between the outlet’s nearest stores in Oxnard and Northridge.

“We’re right in the middle,” Webb said. “There are a lot of families and small businesses in nearby cities and right here in town that are really going to appreciate having a Price Club so nearby.”

The Planning Commission last month approved plans to bring the discount wholesaler to Simi Valley, after making several aesthetic and safety changes in the design of the building and parking lot.

In November, Simi Valley voters rejected a proposal that would have allowed construction of a Wal-Mart on a hillside above the city north of the Simi Valley Freeway near 1st Street.

And last week K mart withdrew its application to build a 117,000-square-foot store on the southwest corner of Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street.

The company gave no explanation for the decision.

Price Club officials, eager to have the outlet up and running by November, said they plan to begin construction immediately.

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Councilman Davis, a regular shopper at the Price Club in Oxnard, greeted the news with enthusiasm.

“I got a great deal on a television for my motor home at the Price Club,” Davis said.

“All I can say is it’s good news to see somebody getting it together and building a new store,” Davis said. “Half the time you just talk and plan and then the whole thing gets canceled for some reason.”