Land Deal Could Result in New Simi Campus

A multimillion-dollar land deal worked out this week between the school district and a Santa Monica developer may result in a new city school and the completion of one of Simi Valley’s biggest housing developments.

As part of the deal--estimated by district sources to be worth more than $7 million--the district would sell about 1,850 acres of land it owns in Wood Ranch to developer New Urban West Inc. of Santa Monica, which would build 650 homes on the property.

The district originally took possession of the land in 1993 after the previous developer went bankrupt without completing the Wood Ranch development or building a promised 500-student elementary school.

By selling the property, the district will have the $6.1 million it needs to build the elementary school, and in turn, the developer will complete the unfinished Wood Ranch community, which now has about 4,200 homes.

On Tuesday, the Simi Valley School Board agreed to give New Urban West an option to purchase the property.

The purchase is contingent upon city approval of changes in the size of the roads planned in the area. But district and company officials said they believe those changes are minor.

Homeowners, who have been waiting for years for the elementary school, said they were optimistic that the deal would be worked out.

“We’re very pleased they finally found a buyer,” said Ron Robinson, a homeowner who is part of the Wood Ranch Task Force, a group of 175 families lobbying for the construction of an elementary school in their community.

“We’ve been waiting for five years for this,” he said.

Because their own neighborhood school has not been built, students from Wood Ranch crowd into Madera School, which--at 700 students--has almost reached capacity.

While Robinson said homeowners are optimistic that everything would go smoothly, he said it is likely to take three to five years before the school is built.

“A lot of our children will be too old to go to elementary school by then,” he said. “But it’s more than just getting this school built. The homeowners simply are interested in seeing the community completed.”

On a tour of the site Friday, Tom Zanic, vice president of New Urban West, said his company plans to stick to the same number and type of homes planned in the original development.

The company would build the 652 homes along an area known as Long Canyon on the now-vacant south side of Wood Ranch.

The developers would also build a road extending across the property, which would connect 1st Street to Wood Ranch Parkway.

Zanic said only about 250 acres of the land would be built on and the rest of the property would remain as open space. The way Zanic describes it, the property would be “sandwiched” by vacant, lush hillsides.

“We have yet to see any controversy,” he said. “What we’re hearing is ‘Are you going to do a good job?’ and ‘Well, when can we get started?’ ”

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New Urban West plans to stick to the same types of homes already planned and approved for the area--a mix of townhomes, clustered single-family residences and a few luxury homes.

The biggest changes the company wants to make concern the size of the road connecting 1st Street to Wood Ranch Parkway. In the original plans for the development, the road would be four lanes, but Zanic said he wants to narrow the road in one area of the property that has sensitive habitat.

New Urban West will have to apply for a General Plan amendment. Zanic said they would start that process within the next two months. If all goes as planned, he said, construction could begin by early 1997. But plans for the development must be reviewed by the city’s Planning Commission and City Council.

Mayor Greg Stratton has already sat down with Zanic to discuss the plans, said Assistant City Manager Don Penman.

“We’re particularly interested in traffic circulation and the extension of 1st Street,” Penman said.

After years of frustration, members of the city’s school board are optimistic about progress on the development. It has taken them two years to find a buyer, said board member Norm Walker.

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Last year the district set up the Simi Valley Education Foundation, a group of local business and community leaders whose job was to market the property and find a buyer, Walker said.

After an initial lack of interest, the foundation ended up with about 30 potential buyers. Those were winnowed down to just three, and the group picked New Urban West, Walker said.

“They’ve done work in the area, and they were willing to stick pretty much with the original plan,” he said.

Walker praised Wood Ranch residents for patiently waiting for the district to come up with a solution.

“[The school board] has a commitment to keep our promises to the citizens of Simi Valley,” he said, “especially to the residents of Wood Ranch, who have been waiting for a school to be built. This is part of our commitment.”