Growth Limits Sought for Simi Valley

Four years after pushing through a local growth-control ordinance, activists announced a new campaign Wednesday that would further rein in Simi Valley’s plans for expansion.

If the latest bid by the slow-growth group SOAR is successful, it would clip Alamos and Brea canyons and Marr and Runkle Canyon ranches from the city’s expansion zone.

That effectively would require voter approval for any project outside the city’s current boundaries.

The measure could cripple developer Unocal’s plans for The Canyons, a major business park and 1,600-home development northwest of the city, which City Council members have identified as the primary venue for new job creation over the next 20 years.

It also could jeopardize other developers’ plans to build more than 500 additional homes in areas the city had planned to annex in coming years. Unocal consultant Elaine Freeman said the company has yet to decide how it will proceed but is frustrated.

“The voters approved a SOAR line and that should be honored,” she said. “If you set rules and the voters approve them, you should respect the voters’ wishes.”

Mayor Says, ‘We Had an Agreement’

City officials who agreed to back SOAR in 1998--with the caveat that the canyon areas would be included in growth boundaries--also are angry about the latest plans.

“We had an agreement,” said Mayor Bill Davis. “We said, ‘We’ll let it go to the ballot.’ I said, ‘Heck I’ll even endorse it.’”

Endorsements such as his convinced 70% of voters to enact a slow-growth policy that year, he said.

“Now [SOAR is] saying, ‘You know what, that agreement was OK in 1998 but it’s not today,’” he said. “If I’d known that, I would have fought them right then and there.

“If we lose, if SOAR gets their way and we bring our line back to the city boundary, we lose 20 years of industrial growth,” Davis said.

“That’s the only area left in the city to grow jobs. That means everybody who moves to Simi Valley is going to have to leave town to work. And that’s something that we’ve been trying to avert for the last 10 years.”

However, SOAR activists remain unapologetic.

SOAR Claims Time Constraints in 1998

Kevin Conville, a school equipment salesman and longtime Simi Valley resident, said he and others cut the agreement they did with city leaders because they were strapped for time.

SOAR’s push in 1998 was countywide, he said, and the feeling then was that it was best to get something passed by Simi Valley voters right away and save the fine-tuning for later.

“We conceded too much,” Conville said. “We knew the line was larger than many of us wanted. We discussed in 1998 that we would very likely be revisiting this issue.”

He also disagreed that jobs in a new business park would be filled by local residents.

It’s just as likely, according to Conville, that residents from the San Fernando Valley will go after those jobs, resulting in traffic jams each morning and evening as commuters head into and out of Simi Valley.