COUNCILMEN CHALLENGE STORAGE-RETAIL LOCATION; LAWMAKERS OPPOSE PROPOSAL FOR MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT.Byline: Douglas Clark
Douglas Clark (born 1942) is an English poet. Clark was born in Darlington, County Durham, England, to Scottish parents in 1942. Daily News Staff Writer Concerned about traffic congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. and aesthetics, two City Council members have appealed the Planning Commission's approval of a development that mixes retail shops with storage units. Councilmen Bill Davis For the artist, animator, creative director, see . For the baseball player, see .
n. A shopping complex containing a row of various stores, businesses, and restaurants that usually open onto a common parking lot. Noun 1. would cause too many problems, so they can support building only storage units on a 4.3-acre parcel on Stearns Street north of the Ronald Reagan Freeway. ``My concern is traffic more than anything else,'' Davis said. ``If you make this all storage, you cut the traffic down tremendously.'' Miller concurred that traffic problems would be exacerbated if Extra Space of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. is allowed to build an 8,000-square-foot retail complex next to 585 storage units. But when the City Council meets Dec. 15 to discuss the matter, he said he will stress the aesthetic rather than the traffic issue. ``We don't need another little strip mall,'' Miller said. ``We have enough of those as it is. They're just not attractive. I think we can do better.'' If the council does not uphold the Davis-Miller appeal, the Planning Commission Noun 1. planning commission - a commission delegated to propose plans for future activities and developments commission, committee - a special group delegated to consider some matter; "a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours" - Milton Berle decision will stand. If the council upholds the appeal, members may modify it, Miller said. Planning Commissioner Dave McCormick said the panel approved the project Nov. 5 because it was an improvement over an earlier proposal to build a retail center on the site, which is next to an In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burger is a privately owned and operated fast food restaurant chain in the Western United States. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded to Arizona and Nevada, and has announced plans to build in southern Utah. restaurant. Also, commissioners were told by the developer that a commercial component was needed to make the project economically viable. ``I wouldn't mind it going all one thing, as far as storage. But that wasn't the way it was presented to us,'' McCormick said. ``When we looked at this project we felt it was a good compromise, and still allowed some small retail that would be neighborhood convenient.'' Davis said he had heard that the developers told Neighborhood Council No. 3 that they would have rather built only storage units, but the commercial zoning wouldn't allow it. ``If, in fact, that's what he's after, I'll help him get it,'' Davis said of the zone change that would be needed for a self-storage project. Representatives of Extra Space of Simi Valley did not return phone calls Monday. Planning Commissioner Dean Kunicki said finding an appropriate use for the location could be a problem. ``It's a tough site to deal with,'' he said. ``What do you do with a piece of property that butts up against a freeway? Ideally, you'd like to put up houses to match other residences in the area. But who would move there? Self-storage may be one of the few things you can put there that will work.'' |
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