Planners Approve Supermarket Project Over Neighbors’ Protests : Simi Valley: Smith’s offers revised design on land it owns in a residential area. Homeowners fear intrusion of crime, traffic.

Brushing aside jeers from a crowd of about 100 Simi Valley residents, the city Planning Commission approved construction of a $10-million supermarket in a residential neighborhood.

Dozens of residents spoke at a five-hour hearing Wednesday night, and nearly all of them urged commissioners to deny a zoning change that would allow construction of the 59,000-square-foot Smith’s Food and Drug Center.

The commission’s 3-1 decision must be approved by the City Council before it becomes final. A hearing is expected next month.

The weed-covered lot at the corner of Alamo Street and Sycamore Drive has been zoned for 60 condominiums. The city’s General Plan calls for homes there, not stores.

Residents argued that replacing condos with a supermarket would mean more crime, noise and traffic for a bedroom neighborhood that already endures the hum of the nearby Simi Valley Freeway.

After three hours of testimony, most commissioners announced they would support the project, because the supermarket would benefit the majority of the city’s residents.

“I think we have a little bit of a NIMBY thing going on here,” said Commissioner Robert Swoish, referring to neighbors’ not-in-my-back-yard sentiments.

“But we have to think about planning in terms of the entire city,” Swoish said. “And when it comes right down to it, I haven’t heard a real good argument against making this change.”

Commissioners Swoish, Michael Piper and Dave McCormick voted for the project. Commissioner Richard Kunz opposed it, and Dean Kunicki abstained because of a potential conflict of interest.

After the hearing, residents cringed at the decision. Some even asked how they could recall the three members who supported the supermarket.

“These guys sold us out without hearing a word we said,” exclaimed Paul Delgado. “Big business wins again.”

For the Utah-based grocery chain, the victory did not come without a substantial fight.

Smith’s representatives have been battling for more than a decade to transform the company’s nine-acre lot just north of the Simi Valley Freeway into a successful development.

Twice before, Smith’s sought approval to change the city’s General Plan and allow for a commercial development on land that backs up to a row of houses.

The requests were denied by both the Planning Commission and the City Council.

But Smith’s representatives told the commission Wednesday that they have changed their project substantially since they last tried to gain city approval in 1988.

The redesigned project will push the supermarket closer to the edge of the freeway and provide a one-acre landscaping buffer on the 9.5-acre property. Also, they will install security fencing and plant large trees along a 35-foot-wide strip between the back of the market and neighboring houses.

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Still, residents told the commissioners that they were not satisfied with the changes. They said a 24-hour grocery store was not compatible with their neighborhood.

They noted a city traffic analysis showing that the average number of cars passing through the neighborhood would increase by 4,500 a day. And they said police anticipate increased calls when any 24-hour business opens.

“This is a good, quiet neighborhood,” said Pete Beltran, who moved to the area from the San Fernando Valley. “There’s no bars on the windows, no graffiti, no sirens in night. We’re going to give all this up so that one guy from Utah can make a little more money.”

Kunz said he agreed with the residents, calling the decision bad planning.

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“We should be respecting the General Plan and respecting the neighborhood, not introducing such a dramatic and detrimental change,” he said.

“I just have to disagree” with the other commissioners, Kunz said. “This is not a project that will be compatible in this neighborhood.”

But Piper said that, despite the heartfelt testimony, he had to support Smith’s right to build on its land.

“I heard an awful lot of things that are very human, but they’re not a lot of things I can deal with,” Piper said. “This decision cannot be made by a show of hands. It has to be made by looking at what makes sense.”

In this case, Piper said, the project will relieve traffic on other major intersections, bring a new shopping option to an expanding community and reduce the need for supermarkets in outlying areas.

Should the zone change receive City Council approval, Smith’s officials said they hope to open the market in early 1996.