City Councils OKs Site for Simi Valley Days on Tapo Street

Ending weeks of work and worry for Simi Valley Days organizers, the City Council on Monday approved the festival’s new site on Tapo Street.

But worried about hurting the street’s businesses, council members held off on a request to close Tapo Street between Cochran and Eileen streets. City staff will reexamine the street closure and bring a proposal back to the council.

“I think we all want this” relocation, said City Councilman Bill Davis. “But we have to provide parking for those existing businesses.”

In addition to authorizing the relocation, the council action allows carnival organizers to use the Civic Center and Metrolink station as remote parking lots, from which shuttles will run.

The decision caps a rough spell for Simi Valley Days, in which organizers had to find a new site--and fast.

Simi Valley Days organizer Ray Clayton called the council action “forward thinking.”

“We needed to find a location for this year,” he said. “I think this plan is a win-win situation for both the businesses and the community.”

Originally, the carnival--schedule for Sept. 17-21--was supposed to take place on a hilly, 32-acre plot at the intersection of the Ronald Reagan Freeway and 1st Street.

An unforeseeable delay in grading--discovered about a month ago--caused organizers to abandon the Simi Valley Days rodeo this year and hurriedly search for a new suitable site.

Organizers zeroed in on a weedy six acres of land on Tapo Street where the Sears and Pic ‘N’ Save once stood. Organizers and city officials believe using the land for Kowchip Bingo, food vendors and a Ferris wheel will benefit the city in two ways: by ensuring the community festival will take place and by drawing attention to the ailing Tapo Street business district.

Both Tapo Street business owners and the owners of the Sears and Pic ‘N’ Save sites agreed to let Simi Valley Days pitch its tent there.

But at the meeting, two merchants said that the closure of Tapo Street would hurt business. Vons store manager Bill Guzzi noted that his store does 35% to 40% of its business on weekends, when the carnival has extended hours.

“We are greatly concerned about parking problems this will cause us to endure during the five days of the Simi Valley Days event,” he said.

Another lingering concern is whether nearby residents will be bothered by the commotion, City Councilwoman Sandi Webb said before the meeting.

“I think it’s a great idea to put Simi Valley Days there,” Webb said. “I haven’t heard from homeowners in the area, but I think we can address their problems.”

To that end, organizers have agreed to keep the noisy mechanical rides as far away from homes as possible.

Most lights from the Western-themed event, which generates money for a number of the city’s nonprofit organizations, will be switched off within 45 minutes of closing time, which is 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and midnight on Friday and Saturday.