COUNTY SEEKS FEDS' PROJECT FUNDS; CONSTRUCTION PLANS PUT FORTH BY CITIES IN BID FOR PRIORITY LIST.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

Three high-impact projects in east Ventura County top the wish lists for federal grant funding in 1998 as the Board of Supervisors prepares to update its overall economic development plan.

Among the seven projects chosen by municipalities as funding priorities are a Cochran Street extension to Alamos Canyon in Simi Valley, construction of a bridge on Highway 118 in Moorpark and enhancement of West Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

Supervisors on Tuesday are expected to approve the third revision to the original development plan, approved by the county in 1994 and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration in 1995.

To qualify for the priority list, the proposed projects must be ready to begin six months after receiving federal funding; lead to the creation of long-term or permanent jobs; and be permitted under current zoning laws and impact areas of high unemployment, low median income or minority populations.

Simi Valley officials seeking $3 million in EDA grant funding for a mile-long extension to Cochran Street, which would loop north, opening 130 acres of industrially zoned land on both sides of the Ronald Reagan Freeway.

``That would be a very difficult project to do without some public assistance,'' said Don Penman, assistant city manager of Simi Valley.

The bulk of the estimated $15 million to $20 million costs would be absorbed by the Unocal oil company, which owns the land, and developers should the land be sold, he said.

The proposed project, which would include a freeway interchange, is slated for completion two years after funding is secured, Penman said.

Thousand Oaks officials are seeking an unspecified amount of money for lighting and landscaping improvements as well as additional sidewalk benches and crosswalks to West Thousand Oaks Boulevard, said Olav Hassel, the city's housing services manager.

City Council members will soon decide whether to spend roughly $500,000 of about $900,000 already set aside for upgrading the road, he said.

Moorpark officials are seeking $250,000 of the $310,000 needed for preliminary design and engineering for a grade separation of the Union Pacific Railroad and Highway 118 to prevent traffic backups caused when trains cross the road, according to city documents.

Plans call for construction of a bridge elevating either vehicle or train traffic, said Ken Gilbert, director of Moorpark's public works department.

The funds would also cover preliminary work on a planned extension of the road to make accessible 53 acres of commercially and industrially zoned land.

Moorpark would pay the remaining $60,000, according to city documents.

Total project costs are not known.

The EDA has already funded a variety of projects across the county, most notably $5 million in fiscal 1995 for repairs after the Northridge Earthquake in January 1994.

The money paid for repairs to the Tapo Street Bridge and the purchase of an emergency generator in Simi Valley, improvements to the Fillmore Reservoir and state Highway 126 in Fillmore and repairs to storm drains in Piru.

With earthquake repairs and other EDA-funded projects under way, the county received no EDA funding in fiscal 1997, which ended June 30, said Del Tompkins, a county program management analyst.

Tompkins expressed optimism about the county securing grant funding in fiscal 1998.

``These other (earthquake) projects are getting close to being completed,'' she said.