There Was Will but No Way Yet to Build Park

Friends and family remember Patricia Murphy as a caring woman with a quick wit, a love of rustic settings and a streak of altruism as wide as an ocean.

So it came as no surprise that upon her death in 1992, the 72-year-old Murphy willed her land in Simi Valley--a small parcel at the western end of Cochran Street--to the city for use as a public park.

But after running afoul of bureaucratic and legal complexities, Murphy’s final wish was set aside to satisfy the retail appetite of Simi Valley’s 104,000 residents.

Instead, the undeveloped land she gave to the city for “Pat’s Park,” as described in her 1991 will, was sold by her estate--to become a parking lot.

The parcel is now being graded by Santa Monica builder Stanley Rothbart as part of the sprawling “Simi at the Plaza” shopping center, the future home of Wal-Mart.

And while appraisers and others suggested that proceeds from the land’s sale, about $1.2 million, be used to fulfill her final request in a different locale, the money is still sitting in the estate’s bank account with no set plans for its use.

A number of problems contributed to the thwarting of Pat Murphy’s will.

For one, she willed her land to the wrong agency. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District administers and creates parks, not the city.

For another, the land, which has a spectacular view of the Ronald Reagan Freeway and surrounding industrial complexes, isn’t well-suited for a park, officials say.

And finally, Murphy owned just a 14% stake in the 52-acre property, which had been in her family for more than 40 years. Her four brothers and sisters owned the rest and had little interest in just giving the land away.

To help realize Murphy’s vision of creating a park, an ad hoc agency of representatives of the city, park district and estate was created earlier this year to decide how the money will be used, though they have yet to meet.

“It’s been an interesting process,” said Jerry Gladden, general manager of the park district. “Nothing has been decided yet, but after some meetings we will.”

Though she never lived in the city, Murphy--a resident of Sequim, Wash.--had spent some time in the San Fernando Valley and wanted to give something back to an area with which she had developed a special bond, family members said.

“She talked a lot about doing something for the area and the park seemed like the best idea to her,” said brother Paul Murphy, also of Sequim, who served as executor of her estate. “She really liked parks and thought that Simi Valley was such a beautiful area.”

Officials with the city and the park district and an independent appraiser determined in 1993 that the land was ill-suited for a park and recommended that it be sold, with the proceeds used to develop a park in a different location.

Rothbart eventually bought the entire property for $8.9 million, $1.2 million of which was the estate’s share.

“We thought it was the best thing to do with the property because it isn’t exactly the most beautiful place in the world,” Paul Murphy said. “We felt something else could be done in the spirit of her will that would be better.”

Though the agency charged with deciding what to do with the money must wait to meet until Paul Murphy is in town, some preliminary plans have been batted around.

If the money is divided among the city, park district and estate, as some have suggested, the city might throw its share to the YMCA to help fund construction of the organization’s new facility on Cochran Street.

The park district might use its share to maintain its legion of parks and the estate might just let it accrue interest.

“It’s all up in the air right now,” said Deputy City Manager Brian Gabler. “But the agency was formed to do something that is similar to what she bequeathed in her will.”