Simi’s Planning Commission to Look at Zoning for Big-Box Retailers

SIMI VALLEY — Fifteen years ago, city officials thought that the west end of town was the perfect place for industries that they hoped to lure from the increasingly crowded San Fernando Valley.

Now, with those expectations still unfulfilled, they hope to turn the area into a magnet for big-box retailers--the ubiquitous box-like discount stores that are cropping up in cities throughout Southern California.

The Planning Commission tonight will consider zoning changes to a 45-acre area near the end of Cochran Street that, if approved, would pave the way for a 300,000-square-foot “power center.”

The shopping mall, which would be anchored by at least three big-box stores, would be south of the Ronald Reagan Freeway between 1st Street and Madera Road.

But the public hearing will include proposed amendments to the city’s general and specific plans for an 885-acre area north and west of the mall site.

Those changes will set norms for everything from landscape requirements to the size of parking stalls and the total square footage of building space that city officials expect at build-out.

If the changes are approved, city officials expect a developer will apply later in the year to build the power center, which is expected to cost about $30 million.

It would be designed to serve many Simi Valley residents who leave town to shop at discount retailers in Oxnard and other nearby cities, Planning Commission Chairman Richard Kunz said.

Believing that the western end of town is the most suitable location for such stores, the city, under the direction of the City Council, applied for the zoning changes.

“I am aware that the policy direction from City Council [is] that they would like to see the project go through,” Kunz said. “But the report is very complex, and I have not made up my mind yet.”

The concerns include increased traffic, noise and pollution that the retail center could bring, Kunz said.

City planners, however, said the project will actually improve traffic in the area, as it would include the extension of Cochran Street between 1st and Madera. The city has already agreed to pay $1.6 million to share the cost of the Cochran extension with developers.

Several small business owners in town are also wary about the impact that the large retailers would have on the city.

“I think it will hurt a lot of the small business owners in town as well as K-Mart and Target,” said Judy Shuman, owner of Whirl-Mor Appliance-TV & Video on Tapo Street. “I think they will be impacted as much as the small businesses.”

Shuman said the center could also take away from city-supported efforts to revitalize the Tapo Street business corridor on the opposite end of town.

While city planners have so far not received any negative comments on the proposed zoning changes, Kunz said he has been contacted by concerned merchants.

Planning Commissioner Robert Swoish said the proposed changes are general, and that the public doesn’t usually get involved until they see specific proposals.

“I haven’t heard from the public,” Swoish said. “But we are talking about the goals for the entire zone. [The hearing] is going to take some time.”

The public hearing begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.