Senior Housing Pact for Wood Ranch OKd

Moving to fill a void, the City Council on Monday unanimously approved an affordable-housing agreement for a 148-unit senior citizen apartment complex in the Wood Ranch area.

The agreement with Westlake Village developer AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc. involves 5.8 acres of land on Country Club Drive near Wood Ranch Parkway.

“You can never build [senior housing] fast enough,” Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis said before the meeting. “Right now, there are probably 250 people on waiting lists [for] senior housing.”

Some of the money for the $10-million project remains in limbo, and the agreement will be retooled when financial details are settled. As the pact is written, AMCAL will receive $850,000 in loans from the state and city. Bank loans, bond financing and tax credits are expected to cover the project’s remaining costs.

Of the 148 units, half will be dedicated to very low- and low-income residents, with proposed rents ranging from $452 to $619 a month.

Neighboring residents had voiced concerns that the affordable apartments, once built, could be rented to anyone, not just seniors. But the agreement approved Monday night states that the housing be earmarked for senior citizens for the next half-century.

Once plans are submitted, the project must receive Planning Commission and City Council approvals before construction begins, likely in early 1998.