CITY COULD EASE RULES TO REHABILITATE BUILDINGS.

Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer

In a push to prevent blight and promote the local economy, the city has developed new guidelines to make it easier to rehabilitate older commercial and industrial buildings in Simi Valley.

The new guidelines would make it cheaper and less time-consuming to rehabilitate commercial buildings approved before July 21, 1986, officials said.

Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said the current rules are too prohibitive and she supports making the rehabilitation standards in the municipal code easier for business.

``If we have areas in our community that are somewhat run down, or where people want to make improvements, once they go to the city and try to pull permits, it's too cumbersome and it's so cost-prohibitive, so they leave it the way it is,'' she lamented.

``We work with new companies moving into the community such as Costco, Guardian and Countrywide, so I think we need to work with businesses that are already here,'' Williamson said.

Commercial and industrial buildings whose permits were originally approved before Jan. 1, 1975, may qualify for rehabilitation permits allowing for reduced parking and landscaping requirements, said Laura Kuhn, deputy director of environmental services.

If the new rehabilitation standards are adopted by the City Council - which will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road - that date would move up to July 21, 1986, thus making more businesses eligible.

The city estimates up to 75 businesses would be eligible for rehabilitation permits under the new guidelines if the new date is approved.

The proposed rules are intended to encourage refurbishing and ultimately to attract tenants to older, vacant or abandoned buildings. City officials believe the current system often forces business owners to spend thousands of dollars on cosmetic changes - such as moving a curb to provide more room for landscaping - to receive the permits to expand or operate a new business in an older building.

Officials said that such requirements discourage developers from coming to the city to refurbish older and vacant commercial buildings, which in turn contributes to the decay of some areas in Simi Valley.

As a result, the City Council will consider easing current restrictions that include parking, lighting and landscaping, as recommended by the Planning Commission.

For instance, the new regulations would provide greater flexibility in meeting landscaping requirements, including the use of up to 25 percent ``hardscape,'' such as concrete or fountains, to satisfy landscaping requirements.

The regulations also call for changes in the parking criteria to allow up to a 10 percent reduction in spaces. They would provide relief from public improvements if the cost of infrastructure improvements exceeds 33 percent of the cost of the rehabilitation project.

The proposed changes spring from an ad hoc committee formed by the City Council to review the current rehabilitation standards.

The committee included members representing the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce and local Realtors.

``They wanted to revise the rehabilitation process to see if there was a way to make it easier for vacant and abandoned building to be redeveloped,'' Kuhn said.

Once approved by the City Council, the new regulations are slated to take effect in mid-July.