CITY, DEVELOPER NEAR PLAZA DESIGN ACCORD.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

The developer of a ``big box'' shopping plaza that would include a Wal-Mart came away from a city ad hoc committee review of his project believing he and the city were closer to agreeing on what the project should look like.

Despite what at times seemed like an avalanche of second-guessing of the $40 million project Thursday night at City Hall, Stanley Rothbart said the meeting was fruitful.

``This kind of input is great,'' Rothbart said. ``I hear their issues; I understand them. We're trying to develop a project that pleases the community. We're not far off.''

The panel reviewing the project, which also includes a Home Depot, consists of members of the City Council and the Planning Commission, along with architectural and landscaping consultants hired by the city at the developer's expense.

Opinions were plentiful, at times contradictory, focusing primarily on landscaping, pedestrian walkways and aesthetic details of the Spanish-Mediterranean-style design.

Though Planning Commission member Dean Kunicki said the design was better than ``85 percent of the Wal-Marts out there,'' he was concerned that there was too much variety and not enough uniformity - a condition stipulated in Simi Valley design guidelines.

Meanwhile, architectural consultant Brian Poliquin wanted to ``eliminate the sterility'' of the big-box design by altering entrances and putting corner turrets on the Wal-Mart and Home Depot buildings, which would be the project's bookends.

The committee talked at length about the ``undulation'' of the pedestrian walkway that would link the three buildings. The term refers to breaking up a straight line to create visual variety.

And Lynn Johnson, a landscape architect from Oxnard, discussed the types of drought-tolerant tree species that might be best suited to the site. crape myrtle, jacaranda and oak trees are now included in the plan.

If approved, the three buildings would be built on a narrow parcel southeast of Madera Road and Highway 118. Architectural drawings showed the buildings forming a U-shape and backing up against a steep slope leading to the freeway.

The southern edge of the site would be marked by an extension of Cochran Street.

The design by Harris Shapiro, of Los Angeles-based Nadell Architects, attempts to camouflage the shapelessness of the big-box retail stores by creating towering entrances, faux facades, a variety of roof lines, and cornices for ornamentation.

The Wal-Mart store will measure 128,000 square feet, while Home Depot will be 105,000 square feet. The third building is set for 105,000 square feet and will house three stores. Though tenants have not been confirmed, one of them may be a 26,040-square-foot Petsmart, Rothbart said.

Mayor Greg Stratton said Rothbart is not required to use any of the suggestions. The goal of the panel was simply to give the developer feedback and reactions so he wouldn't get ``blindsided'' when going before the Planning Commission.

Stratton said city officials are generally pleased with the quality of the design.

``The good news is we're starting from a very upscale project,'' he said.

While Rothbart remained open to many of the ideas, he said some changes to the design would be impractical because no one would see them.

In fact, there are few vantage points from which a motorist or pedestrian would get a full-frontal view of the shopping plaza.

A sloping landscape on the project's southern edge would screen the stores from motorists driving on Cochran Street. Motorists on Highway 118 would also see little of the complex.

The intersection of Madera Road and Cochran Street - the plaza's entrance - would be the only place from which the stores would be visible to motorists. For that reason, city officials agreed that design dollars should be spent to make those areas pleasing.

Rothbart considers that a victory.

``Now we know that we agree,'' he said Friday. ``If you're not going to see it, let's not throw it in the plan. Let's be practical.''

Rothbart said he is on a tight schedule. The review panel, which was formed last month at the developer's request, will meet for the last time Aug. 28. The plan will then be officially presented to the Planning Commission on Sept. 17 - a date Rothbart said he intends to keep.