DEVELOPMENT'S FUTURE UNCERTAIN ALAMOS CANYON INDUSTRIAL PARK NEEDS RESIDENTIAL COMPONENT.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - An industrial park proposed on a vast plot of land in the Alamos Canyon area cannot be built without a large residential component, developers said Wednesday at a meeting with city officials.

While most of the 2,430 acres in the hills north of Simi Valley are zoned for industrial use, land owner Unocal Land and Development Corp. said the cost of building roads and other infrastructure for a business park would be impossible without the revenue generated by housing developments.

``With the highway interchanges and the roads that will be required throughout, we are looking at up to $50 million in up front cost before any actual construction could begin,'' said Unocal vice president of land and development Brian Kelly.

``The project will not be economically viable and marketable without a significant residential component.''

Investment in a purely industrial and commercial development would not be recouped for at least 17 years, he said.

Kelly also said that Unocal has never proposed a specific number of residential homes for the area. Its first substantive proposals on the residential compenent will be made on May 9, he said.

Most of the industrial park would wrap around the Simi Valley landfill, where state law does not allow residential development.

Unocal will present its revised plans at the May 15 City Council meeting.

``It's tough for me to say anything without knowing all of the facts, and getting the facts is the first thing I would like to do,'' said City Council member Barbra Williamson, who will meet with Unocal representatives on May 2.

``But the hillsides are sacred, and if it came down to us trampling them for an extra 400 jobs, I am not willing to do that. I'm sure that if Unocal, like any other developer, could put a house on every blade of grass, they would do it.''

The city ad hoc review committee, made up of city planners, council members and other officials, cautioned Unocal that any proposal must ultimately be decided on by the City Council, which has expressed a desire for more industrial than residential development at the site.

``The ad hoc committee is only giving advice, and not instructions,'' said committee member and Mayor Pro Tem Paul Miller. ``Everything to this point could be moot, and everyone should note that these are only ideas and not solid proposals. Until the City Council makes some crucial decisions, this is all speculation.''

Foremost among the decisions to be made by the City Council is whether to relax the city's hillside protection laws to make room for the proposed industrial and residential complexes.

City leaders have long eyed the Alamos Canyon area as the city's best hope at a major industrial complex to lure jobs, and revenue, to Simi Valley.

According to Unocal, the development would generate approximately 400 news jobs in Simi Valley every year over the next two decades.

Both Unocal representatives and city officials were quick to stress that plans for the development are in their preliminary stages, and that significant changes will likely be made over the next year.