Homeowners Nix Apartments
Residents of a semirural equestrian community have begun a grass-roots campaign to protest plans by two Los Angeles County developers to build 200 apartment units in their neighborhood.
Homeowners along Leeds Street, a long pastoral block that runs parallel to four-lane Los Angeles Avenue and Cochran Street, say they want to protect the character of their tree-lined street, which has no sidewalks but provides mountain views in three directions.
“We are letting them know that we have no intention of letting this happen,” said Mary Erickson, who with her husband, Dean, has lived in a Spanish-style stucco house set back off Leeds Street for 22 years.
As planned, the gated apartment complex would front Los Angeles Avenue, between Stearns and Ralston streets, on a rectangular 7.6-acre parcel that extends north to Leeds Street. The land, owned by the Kurnick Family Trust of Los Angeles, is adjacent to Rancho Santa Susana Community Park and across from the city’s Amtrak and Metrolink station.
To build goodwill, developers invited residents to a presentation last week at City Hall, where a preview of construction plans was offered. A standing-room-only crowd attended, most to speak against the project. Plans for a second presentation this week were abruptly canceled.
The planned project is a joint venture between Rice Development LLC in Beverly Hills and MW Development in Santa Monica. Michael Weyrick, president of MW Development, declined to discuss details of the project, saying it would be premature.
“We are in preliminary planning stages,” he said. “We have not submitted a plan. We have given an indication of what we plan to submit, but that could change.”
The initial concept calls for 200 apartment units on more than two-thirds of the property, and four single-family houses on half-acre lots on the two acres fronting Leeds Street, according to Jim Lightfoot, Simi Valley’s chief planner.
Simi Valley Mayor Bill Davis said he favors apartments at the Los Angeles Avenue site, though he stressed he is not commenting on the specifics of the project because no plans have been filed.
“It’s next to a park, across from a train station. It has the potential of being a good apartment site,” he said.
That sentiment is not shared by those who live in the more than 40 homes along Leeds Street and who worry about a change to the rural atmosphere of their block.
“They want to build something that is inconsistent with the style and size of the neighborhood,” said Rick Rice, a retired architect and apartment developer who has lived on Leeds Street for four years.
“A three-story building is a tall building, it would block our views of the mountains. It’s like they are boxing us in with structures,” Erickson added.
“I can tell you that’s the same problem that comes up with every project in the city,” the mayor said. “You don’t buy views of skylines or views of mountains. You always know that if there’s a vacant lot, something’s going to be built there.”
Homeowners say they oppose any proposed zoning change. One-third of the property facing Los Angeles Avenue is zoned for commercial developments, such as strip malls, and the remainder is set aside as low-density residential, according to Lightfoot, who is also the city’s zoning administrator. A change to a higher density would be needed to build the apartment complex, he said.
“It creates a domino effect,” Rice said. “Once you break that zoning, then other properties in the area are in jeopardy.”
Property owners are frustrated with city officials. They say the officials promised them their neighborhood would remain the same, but have instead supported projects that violate this pledge.
“We’ve been fighting development on Leeds for 18 years,” homeowner Tony Chapman said.
Some anticipate conflict with apartment dwellers over the consequences of living near an equestrian community.
“People in the apartments are going to complain about the smell, dust and flies,” Leeds Street homeowner Sharon Greenwood said.
“We’ve had this discussion with those folks before,” responded Davis. “If they don’t sell [their property], nothing’s going to change. We put Leeds Street as rural horse-keeping, and we certainly intend for it to stay that way. I would have real heartburn trying to change Leeds Street itself.
“However, I don’t believe that they should be able to say that we like what we have here, and we don’t want it to change anywhere else.”
Traffic concerns have also surfaced concerning the proposed apartments, particularly from homeowners along Ralston Street, which intersects Leeds.
An already approved but unbuilt 324-unit apartment complex called Parker Ranch, on Los Angeles Avenue east of the Metrolink station, is expected to increase traffic in the area, residents say. And they fear residents of a second apartment complex would use Ralston Street and perhaps Leeds Street as alternative routes to Stearns Street and California 118.
Davis said all traffic issues would be carefully scrutinized before any building plan is approved. “That’s a concern that would be found out about after a plan is filed for the project.”
Residents also raise objections to apartments in their neighborhood, suggesting lower-cost housing would attract young tenants and could potentially lead to an increase in crime. These complaints sound familiar to the mayor.
“It’s always the same. We need apartments, but not in my backyard. When you build apartments in this city, what you’re hearing people say is, ‘It’s OK to be born here, to go to school and to college.’ But then we’re saying, ‘Get the hell out of town until you can afford a house.’ We’re trying to build apartments for our own children.
“Are we going to build apartments that are going to destroy Leeds Street? Certainly not. We are not going to let somebody build a nest of crime,” Davis added.
