ARROYO SIMI FIXES STUDIED RESIDENTS FAVOR 'WASH' UPGRADES.

Byline: ERIC LEACH

Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY -- Local residents have gotten a look at a long-range "visioning study" on how the Arroyo Simi can be beautified and revitalized.

At a meeting Thursday night held by the city of Simi Valley and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, about two dozen residents viewed maps and graphics and got a chance to comment on the various concepts.

While everyone who spoke at the hearing welcomed the project, some said they were concerned about crime, homeless encampments, trash and other problems they said already need attention.

"I think this is great, but what we should do prior to all these things is clean it up," said Bill Ewart, who lives along the arroyo near Tapo Street. "It's dirty. It's filthy."

Another resident, Al Bandel, said he used to ride his bicycle along the bike path that already runs down the arroyo, but the path has become so bumpy he has given up.

"Make it usable instead of making it pretty," he said. "The roots are tearing up the bike path and it's not maintained."

Several residents said attracting large numbers of people into the arroyo for recreation would necessitate regular police patrols.

Simi Valley City Councilman Steve Sojka, chairman of the Arroyo Simi Task Force, said the reason the task force was formed was to address problems and take advantage of the arroyo's potential.

"It's been neglected for many years," he said. "The idea is to bring more people into the arroyo, so it is not conducive for homeless people to camp out there."

He said many people in Simi Valley know the Arroyo Simi -- which is 12 miles long and runs east to west from Corriganville Park through the middle of town to Moorpark -- simply as "the wash," while some residents don't even know it exists. He called it a hidden "gem in our community."

Jeff Ferber, a landscape architect and principal with the RRM Design Group hired by the city to work on the plan, said Thursday's meeting was held to offer "a collage of ideas" to see how residents felt.

As for concerns about crime, he said such beautification projects elsewhere have improved property values, reduced crime and improved security.

He showed pictures of such projects in the Prince Memorial Greenway in Santa Rosa, explaining how more vegetation, signs and attractive entry points can create a beautiful attraction in the middle of the city where people can ride bicycles, jog and walk with their families and learn about the area's natural history.

Walkways leading in and out of the arroyo area could provide safer routes for children to go back and forth to school, and there could be overlooks and attractive gathering sites at points where water cascades below.

"It's much more natural, but it still maintains the flood-control capacity," he said, pointing to the developed Prince Memorial Greenway.

Park district officials said some low-cost improvements for parks and walkways along the Arroyo Simi could be built with funding already available. Some parts of the arroyo, such as the areas around Erringer Road and Sequoia Avenue, already have parks backing up to the waterway.

Although some sections are lined with rocks, others look natural with sandy bottoms, shrubs and trees, making the area attractive for wild birds, which Ferber said will give Simi Valley a good head start in the beautification process.

The first housing tract developers in Simi Valley in the 1800s advertised the Arroyo Simi as a river full of big fish and enough water to float a paddle-wheel steamer.

But in the old days it was really a meandering wash that was dry much of the year, with frequent flooding in the winter.

Today, there is usually water running year-round because of residential development, and serious concerns remain about the potential for the arroyo to overflow its banks and flood homes and businesses.

The primary concern in any planning has to be public safety, officials said.

For years, Simi Valley residents have worked with their Neighborhood Councils to protect the arroyo through annual cleanups, in part aimed at removing some of the debris left by homeless encampments. Last year, 275 volunteers removed more than 11 tons of trash.

And Saturday was the fifth annual Arroyo Cleanup in connection with the Great American Cleanup effort across the country, sponsored by Keep America Beautiful as the nation's largest annual community improvement program.

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For more information about the Arroyo Simi planning effort, call Jerry Clark, the city's landscape architect, at [phone].

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The Arroyo Simi, shown here in a February photograph, is being considered for beautification. The public is invited to provide ideas on plans for the area.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

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