Wood Ranch Rezoning Plan Postponed

SIMI VALLEY â€”  The City Council postponed action Monday on the proposed rezoning of three acres of a struggling shopping center that a developer wants to use for affordable housing for senior citizens.

But council members signaled that the proposal by Glendale-based Corporation for Better Housing to build 150 apartments at the Wood Ranch shopping center faces an uphill battle.

Council members told the corporation that if it hopes to succeed, it should use the two-month postponement to win support for the project from neighboring residents. Many neighbors of the shopping center off Madera Road have opposed the rezoning, saying the city had earlier promised the property would never be rezoned.

Council members also said the Corporation for Better Housing needs to revise its plan to have a chance of succeeding.

They “better have a redesign on the number of units before they propose it to the neighbors, because they won’t buy it and I won’t buy it,� Mayor Bill Davis said.

Councilwoman Barbra Williamson pledged to keep the promise that there would be no rezoning.

“Your word’s your word and if you can’t even keep that you might as well get out of politics,� Williamson said.

Williamson said she discussed the project with Wood Ranch residents last week.

“There are some residents who don’t mind if there are senior apartments, but they don’t want the density they’re proposing,� Williamson said.

Council members also urged the shopping center’s owner, Cohen Affiliated Holdings of Sherman Oaks, to try harder to attract commercial tenants to the center.

Wood Ranch, which features a renovated Ralphs grocery store set to open Wednesday, was an attractive site for the apartments because several stores there have been struggling, said Sam Freed, a senior planner for the city.

Amitabh Barthakur, a consultant for Economics Research Associates of Los Angeles, told the council that adding new stores to Wood Ranch was not a viable alternative, because the center has poor visibility and strong competition from nearby shopping centers.