MANY OPINIONS EXPECTED ON WAL-MART CENTER.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

When a developer meets with neighborhood councils this week and next to discuss a proposed ``big box'' retail shopping center that includes Wal-Mart, they are likely to hear opinions as various as the goods in a discount store.

Neighborhood Council No. 1 Chairman Joseph Fehniger said he expects ``quite a lot of feedback'' from council members and residents.

``There's not much love for Wal-Mart,'' he said. ``People are afraid it will put quite a lot of smaller stores out of business.''

The council's area includes the site where the shopping center is proposed to be built by developer Stanley Rothbart of Santa Monica. Rothbart or a representative is scheduled to meet with the council Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Center, 3900 Avenida Simi.

Jean Leighton of Neighborhood Council No. 2, which oversees the district east of the shopping plaza, said she expects a lot of support for Wal-Mart. That council's forum begins Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the senior center.

``I don't believe it's going to hurt anybody in town,'' Leighton said. ``If people don't want to shop at Wal-Mart, they don't have to.''

And then there are people like Norma Coony, a member of Neighborhood Council No. 1, who says she is ambivalent about the shopping center.

``If it meets the needs of some members of the community, fine,'' she said.

Rothbart is nearing the end of a long review process for his proposal to construct a three-building shopping center southeast of Highway 118 and Madera Road. The plaza would include a 128,000-square-foot Wal-Mart and a 105,000-square-foot Home Depot. The 74,000-square-foot third building would house three tenants as yet unnamed.

Although Rothbart is expected to attend both Neighborhood Council meetings, he was not available for comment. A spokeswoman for Rothbart Development would only say Rothbart prefers to attend this type of community forum, rather than send a representative.

The importance of the project to the community was evident Monday night when the Simi Valley City Council named two members - Mayor Greg Stratton and Councilwoman Barbara Williamson - to a panel that will help review the proposal. That panel also includes two members of the Planning Commission, said Al Boughey, director of the city's Environmental Services Department.

``The City Council and Planning Commission want to be involved, given that this is such an important project for the community,'' he said.

Boughey noted that the project may go before the Planning Commission in a public hearing as early as mid-September. But before that happens, members of the Neighborhood Councils want to take their own nonbinding votes and gather suggestions that will be submitted to the City Council.

``All we can do is have the community voice its concerns,'' Fehniger said.

Some of those concerns take a broad view of the Simi Valley economy. For instance, despite their conflicting opinions on Wal-Mart, Fehniger, Leighton and Coony all said they would like Simi Valley to have its own factory outlet center, similar to those in Oxnard and Camarillo.

And Linda Latta, of Neighborhood Council No. 1, said she loves Wal-Mart but would prefer a major shopping mall in Simi Valley - a goal city officials have also supported.

``Simi Valley already has a lot of discount stores,'' she said.