Developer Drops Sand Canyon Project

City officials say they aren’t worried that the developer of the Big Sky Ranch project in Sand Canyon canceled plans to purchase the property last month.

The development would have brought 750 homes to the north side of the city, including 20 estate homes.

The upfront costs--which included paying for a three-mile extension of the north end of Madera Road--were too much for Centex Homes, said Isaac Moradi, owner of the property, about 873 acres in Sand Canyon, north of Erringer Road.

Moradi hopes another developer will pick up where Centex left off.

“Now I’m trying to see what else we can do to make it happen. The cost is so expensive that nobody wants it,” said Moradi, adding that this is the third time in 15 years plans to develop this land have fallen through.

Mayor Bill Davis thinks the project may still happen, but Centex’s decision may result in a completely different project than what the city approved in August. Davis does not believe the city will suffer if the project stalls.

“We have a lot of other projects that are certainly in the mill,” he said.

Davis said he understands how requirements to build streets and sewers and pitch in for affordable housing can make things difficult for a developer. But they are still the developer’s responsibility, he said.

“By the time you set aside for parks and schools, roadways and sewers and all of the things that make a project feasible, pretty soon then the 1/8profit 3/8 becomes marginal,” Davis said.

Centex Homes officials were unavailable for comment.

Undeveloped properties now in the pipeline in Simi Valley include the Parker Ranch project near the train station and two major mixed-use developments in Runkle Canyon--south of Sycamore Drive and in Alamo Canyon to the northwest of the city.

Big Sky Ranch backers angered residents until they agreed to change affordable housing in the project to senior housing, and then finally removed it entirely. The city’s four Neighborhood Councils voted not to support the project unless the affordable-housing requirements were removed.

The project as approved included a 6.2-acre public park, a 3.2-acre public park, five miles of trails in the hills, 535 acres of open space and millions of dollars in park and school fees.