Simi Valley Proposal for Apartments Atop Offices Under Attack : Development: Some fear such construction would create slums and raise crime. Heavy opposition is expected when plan reaches council.

A proposal allowing apartments to be built atop central Simi Valley offices will face heavy opposition when it comes before the City Council on Monday.

Council members--and some of the plan’s initial supporters--said they have backed away from the so-called mixed-use zoning because of mounting public concern that such construction would create slums and increase crime.

In the past month, opponents have gathered more than 600 signatures to present to the council.

This week, a major citizens’ lobby wrote the council to insist that mixed use does not agree with their goals for the city.

Such zoning was endorsed conceptually in the city’s General Plan in 1988 to increase affordable housing.

Supporters said young people and seniors living in mixed-use buildings could abandon their cars and walk to work or to shops. Developers could charge less for apartments because of revenue from commercial tenants.

And supporters said the new zoning would halt the city’s sprawl into environmentally sensitive open space by bringing residents back to the city’s center.

“Conceptually, the idea has real potential,” Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said. “But realistically, the way it is right now, I don’t think it will work.”

Stratton, as well as council members Sandi Webb, Judy Mikels and Barbara Williamson, have said they do not expect the idea to move forward now.

“With the public opposition that’s built up, and no developers asking us to pass it, I just don’t see a compelling reason to move forward,” Webb said. “I think at this point in time I’m just looking to shelve the idea.”

Even members of the group of architects, planners and business leaders who drafted the mixed-use plan said putting it on hold may be the best move for now.

Much has changed since 1992 when the group proposed apartments atop stores and offices in vast sections of Simi Valley’s downtown, members of the group said.

“The initial idea was that these types of projects would play off each other, creating whole neighborhoods where people could live, work, shop and eat,” said David Petrovich, a senior city planner. “It was very innovative and very forward thinking.”

Quickly, though, the idea was whittled down, Petrovich said.

The area proposed for the zoning was reduced to one small section of town on Tapo Street between Alamo Street and the Simi Valley Freeway.

After the Planning Commission reviewed the plan, the proposal was changed to allow apartments to be built over office space only--not over restaurants or retail stores.

“The idea has been compromised,” said Dee Zinke, a building industry advocate and member of the city’s committee that reviewed the plan. “At this point, we can only hope the council will set it aside.”