Builder Fails to Sway Residents on Marr Ranch Plan

Thirteen years after it was first proposed, the huge Marr Ranch development was laid out at a City Council hearing Monday for residents, many of whom still didn’t like it.

Developer Robert Friedman told the council and more than 60 residents how he proposes to fill in a ravine and build 250 large single-family houses in Simi Valley’s rolling northeastern hills.

Friedman told of compromises that he has made--trees to be spared, drainage systems to be added--all in pursuit of the council’s approval.

As he spoke, the sticking points for Marr Ranch boiled down to three crucial issues: the 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt he plans to move to fill the ravine; the houses that he wants to build on slopes that are steeper than city ordinances allow, and the seven old valley oak trees that stand in the way.

The 194 acres in the 2,400-acre Marr Ranch development’s first phase wrap around a hill northeast of Yosemite Avenue.

Many of the residents listened patiently as Friedman explained how he earned a Planning Commission recommendation that would allow him to build part of the development on hillsides that are steeper than city law allows: “It’s not a hill, it’s the side of a ravine,” Friedman said. “It’s not visible from anywhere except right on the property.

“The intent of the ordinance was to protect the hillsides. The intent of the ordinance was not to take away the discretion of the Planning Commission and the City Council to solve land-use problems as they come up.”

As for filling in the ravine, Friedman said that the only alternative would be to build houses on the central hill itself and construct very expensive drainage systems 40 feet underground to handle rain runoff.

Councilman Bill Davis expressed some concern about the oak trees. “I am not known as a tree hugger, but when we’re looking at the oaks that are there, they’re really pristine. Some of them have been there a couple hundred years. They’re worth any effort, even if you had to change the road design a little bit. . . . Would you agree to that?”

Friedman said that he might be able to save six of the oak trees, but at least one other must be cut down to make way for the future extension of Yosemite Avenue.

“This property is part of a larger property . . . of which 1,800 acres are being dedicated to open space,” he said. “There are a thousand trees or more in that open space.”

Then neighbors of the controversial project stood one by one and laid into the developer for proposing something that they said would clutter their hillside views and ruin their suburban quality of life.

Neighbor Ann Headly said she worried about the possibility of landslides and drainage problems the construction might cause. She added: “When we moved here to Simi Valley many years ago, we came for the suburban lifestyle. But now we’re being surrounded by monstrously ugly homes on postage-stamp-sized lots, and . . . we’re definitely against this project.”

Other residents complained about Friedman’s plan to make steep, narrow Crazy Horse Drive the secondary entrance to the development.

Terry Reagan, a resident of nearby Indian Hills, requested that if it must approve Marr Ranch the City Council vote to: save all the oak trees; set up an assessment district to maintain landscaping on some of the hillsides; close Crazy Horse Drive until Flanagan Drive is connected to the development’s eastern end, and restrict any future development on the 2,400-acre ranch until this first phase is done.