Sleepy Simi Set to Awake From Economic Slumber

SIMI VALLEY —  If it seems a little sleepy and suburban around here, consider how the face of Simi Valley will change in the coming year:

New buildings--one long-sought, another hotly opposed.

New faces at City Hall--a fresh city attorney and, maybe, just maybe, the first new mayor in a decade.

And some new developments on long-running issues--revitalizing a bedraggled shopping district and finally creating a regional mall.

While residents cherish Simi Valley’s small-town feel, they might see some big-city amenities next year. The economy is humming again, bulldozers are grading for a variety of new projects and city leaders are seeking just the right verbiage to describe 1998.

“I really see [next year] as kind of a recovery,” said Mayor Greg Stratton. “We’re actually starting to see some of the returns from the recovery after the recession . . . . We’re starting to see some sales tax jumps--even some double-digit jumps in the last few quarters. We’re starting to say, ‘Mmmmmm, good.’ ”

City Councilwoman Sandi Webb had a different take on the year ahead.

“There are definitely going to be some big changes in ‘98, with the possibility of a new mayor, a new face on council, the start of really visible change on Tapo Street happening and the opening of the new police station,” she said. “Ahhhh.”

However you put it, Simi Valley is in for a whirlwind year:

* After years of working in overcrowded, out-of-date buildings, Simi Valley’s 120-member police force will finally see the opening of a new $11.9-million, state-of-the art police station next year.

The building, more than twice the size of the current station--which was hard hit in the 1994 Northridge earthquake--could open in late summer or early fall, after years of waiting. Federal funds have finally come though for the building at the corner of Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street, and city leaders can barely contain their excitement.

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The new facility will include subterranean parking to protect patrol squads from the baking sun, computers galore, nine holding cells, an advanced security system, skylights and more.

* The new year will bring a multimillion-dollar extension of Cochran Street, allowing retail giants Home Depot and the controversial Wal-Mart to move into Simi Valley.

The community fought a pitched battle over the 128,000-square-foot Wal-Mart, with foes saying it would kill small business and bring low-paying jobs to town and boosters claiming it would increase the tax base and encourage residents to shop where they live.

Come springtime, grading should begin on the 308,000-square-foot Wal-Mart shopping center southeast of Madera Road and the Ronald Reagan Freeway, which will also be home to other, smaller “big-box” stores yet to be named.

* After nearly two decades in city politics--more than half of them as mayor--Simi Valley’s consummate booster, Stratton, may be moving on to county government.

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Stratton is weighing another run for county auditor-controller next year. Stratton tried for the post in 1994, only to be ruled ineligible because he didn’t meet qualifications from a 1957 law--which has since been changed.

Stratton argued that his master’s degree in business administration was sufficient for the post. The rules now agree with him.

Should Stratton leave, it would likely mean three City Council seats up for grabs. Outspoken libertarian Webb and former police chief Paul Miller are both seeking reelection come fall. And Councilman Bill Davis has long yearned to wield the mayor’s gavel, which could prompt a third opening.

“What I do depends on what Greg decides to do,” Davis said. “If he wants to run again as mayor, I wouldn’t run against him--he’s a good mayor. If he wants to seek higher office, I’ll probably run for mayor. You know, I love what I do.”

* City leaders will also search for a new city attorney, as John Torrance retires in April.

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Curt with people he doesn’t know, but generous with his home-baked peanut butter cookies, Torrance has been a city fixture since 1983.

He is best known for writing some of the cities most contested--and lauded--municipal ordinances, including those banning mud wrestling and restricting the location of sexually oriented businesses. Deemed unconstitutional by the courts, the law governing adults-only businesses is being rewritten in the new year.

Torrance also helped city leaders craft laws that protected the valley’s natural beauty without strangling growth.

City Manager Mike Sedell is working with a headhunter to find a suitable replacement for the city’s chief counsel. But it won’t be an easy task, Stratton predicted.

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“Sometimes you’re lucky, and sometimes you have to go through two or three to get the right one,” Stratton said. “We know what we’re looking for. We hope to be as successful in finding a new city attorney as we were in finding [Sedell].”

* Still struggling to recover from the recession and the earthquake, the Tapo Street shopping area is due for a face lift in 1998.

City officials this month agreed to spend $860,000 to give the street in the east end of town antique-looking lights, more palm trees and landscaping, decorative fencing and classy entry signs starting in spring.

“We’re looking at the actual construction of something we’ve been working on for several years,” Assistant City Manager Don Penman said. “To me, that’s really exciting.”

* Another promising prospect is that of the regional mall, long planned for a bare swath of rolling hills where the Ronald Reagan Freeway meets 1st Street.

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With developer Forest City, city leaders are working to lure a sizable department store to finally make the mall a reality.

“Is this the year of the mall? I hope so,” Penman said. “We’re probably closer than we have been in the last five or six years.”

Added Stratton: “I know everyone has heard this 10,000 times before, but it could be time for the mall. It’s a long, drawn-out process, but I do believe this economic cycle is when it’s going to get built. Of course, economic cycles are 10 years long.”

* Also on the horizon are other improvements near the civic center on Tapo Canyon Road.

Ground had been broken for a 24,000-square-foot Kaiser-Permanente medical center near City Hall that could open in late summer or early fall.

Next door, developer Bob Selleck hopes to build a 170,000-square-foot shopping center with a 16-screen movie theater and maybe a large bookstore. The Planning Commission will consider the request in February, and shops could open by this time next year.

City and school officials are also discussing the fate of a 36-acre field across from City Hall on which school trustees hope to develop senior citizen housing, luxury apartments, single-family homes, some office buildings and upscale shops and restaurants and possibly a new school district headquarters.

Those discussions are in the preliminary stages.

“I think it’s all very exciting,” Penman said. “New employers, new businesses, a strong economy--these things have a domino effect. We’re really pulling out of the tougher economic times and now Simi Valley is perceived . . . as a very positive location.”