SIMI VALLEY : Marr Ranch Project Tentatively OKd

A developer has received tentative approval for a plan to build 550 homes on the rolling hills of Marr Ranch in northwest Simi Valley as part of an elaborate agreement that will bring the city $3.5 million and 1,800 acres of open space.

The agreement between the city and developer Long Beach Equities was approved by the Simi Valley Planning Commission on Wednesday and must still be reviewed by the City Council.

The only opposition to the development of estate-sized homes on 900 acres north of Presidio Drive came from a group of landowners whose parents and grandparents purchased lots in the area during the early part of this century.

About 160 tiny lots are checkered within the boundaries of the land planned for open space preservation, but were never purchased by Long Beach Equities.

Title holders to those lots, bought on the promise of future development in the area, said they should have been included in any agreement to develop Marr Ranch. The plan before the commission Wednesday, they said, would render their properties undevelopable.

“Basically, after paying taxes on this land for 60 years, we’ve been left dangling in the wind,” said 71-year-old Russell Page, a Santa Ana engineer whose mother bought 4,000 square feet of land in 1931.”

Robert Friedman, who spoke for Long Beach Equities, said the agreement only involves land owned by his company. He said his company did not purchase the 160 lots because “it appeared to us that those lots have no value.”

Commissioners said they were sympathetic to the landowners, but found nothing that would prevent them from approving the project.