Apartment Builder Seeks Metrolink Link

The City Council on Monday will consider a proposed subdivision near the Metrolink station at Los Angeles Avenue and Stearns Street.

Developer Gary Gorian is seeking an amendment to the city’s General Plan that would allow him to build 494 apartments in an area zoned for mobile homes.

He also is asking the city to modify its hillside ordinance to allow him to locate the development on slopes that normally are protected from development.

The council is expected to review the request and direct staff and the developer to modify the proposal if necessary.

In addition to the apartments, Gorian wants to build 246 homes on the 258-acre Parker Ranch property south of the railroad tracks and Arroyo Simi.

Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said she has mixed feelings.

She said that although the city needs more apartments “I do have a problem with locating them on hillsides. . . . They should be protected.”

Gorian said the project is an innovative approach to solving some of the more acute problems common to Southern California, namely alternative means of transportation.

He said that by locating the homes so close to an existing shopping plaza, bus terminals and the Metrolink station, residents will feel less inclined to use their cars.

The City Council meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.