Simi Delays Action on Development Plan

The City Council delayed action Monday night on a plan that would guide development in a 92-acre swath of the Kadota Fig neighborhood, and which some residents’ fear could destroy the area’s rural charm.

After asking staff members to dramatically revise a package of zoning changes for Kadota Fig, the council set a Nov. 18 date to reconsider the proposal.

The changes would increase the number of homes that can be built in the area.

The neighborhood, where several residents keep horses on large, open lots, could one day contain hundreds of new homes under the version requested by the council. It now has only about 40.

During the hearing Monday, one homeowner told the council that he did not want his neighborhood to change.

“It seems you just have to fight and fight just to keep things the way they were,” Tony Chapman said.

While noting homeowner concerns, council members have said the city needs a coherent plan for development in the area, bordered by the Ronald Reagan Freeway to the north, Stearns Street to the east and Fig Street to the west.

City officials have worked for five years to cobble together a plan for the neighborhood. The need for such a plan was even incorporated into the city’s general plan update in 1988.

But the planning process often bogged down under the conflicting opinions of the area’s residents. Some wanted the right to build more homes on their property, hoping to entice developers into the neighborhood. Others wanted the area to stay as it was.

The plan as ordered revised by the council will represent a compromise between the two sides.

A previous draft would have allowed 478 homes in the area. And the version scuttled Monday called for 378 dwellings. It was not immediately clear how many houses could be built under the version the council now wants.

The bulk of the public comment was from about a dozen landowners who wanted changes in the proposed plan.

The council listened, then said they were also concerned that the existing version did not allow enough development near the freeway.