RESIDENTS LIKE UNIFORM ARCHITECTURE.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

The results are in and it's official: Residents want more trees and pitched roofs, and not a hodgepodge of signs and boxlike stores in their shopping centers and retail areas.

Urban Design Studio, a consultant paid $35,000 to create a citywide design guidelines manual, met Tuesday night with an ad hoc committee and presented the results of its visual preference survey.

City Councilwoman Barbra Williamson, a member of the committee, said she wasn't surprised that the results came heavily in favor of a lot of landscaping and unique architectural designs.

``The people in our community are ready to change,'' she said. ``They want to see things that are aesthetically pleasing. They no longer want to see boxes or average, ho-hum buildings. They wasn't to see things that will add to the city and be attractive.''

Photographs depicting the top and bottom 20 designs, ranked from the more than 140 used in the survey, are on display at City Hall and at the Simi Valley Library.

Once they are complete, the design guidelines will be used by city planners, council members, planning commissioners and developers to influence future commercial projects.

While the guidelines contained in the manual will not be hard-and-fast regulations, they will give everyone involved with the planning an idea of what the community envisions for the city.

``The manual will also contain pictorial images of what not to do, what guidelines we are trying to discourage,'' said senior planner David Petrovich. ``We hope that putting it in clear-cut terms, in words and pictures, there would be little doubt of what the city's guidelines are for high-quality design.''

Officials said the concept for the manual came up in the Simi Valley's Vision 2020 discussions, which are designed to guide the city's growth and lifestyle over two decades. It is just one of several cities in the state to attempt to guide development this way.

``Most cities, like Simi Valley, are tired, fed up if you will, with what is called `franchise architecture,' '' said Mark Brodeur, an executive with the consultant. ``Where a McDonald's in one city looks just like a McDonald's in another city and so on. They say they want more trees and landscaping in their project development.''

Brodeur said there were areas of design in which Simi Valley was unique in the intensity of its opinions.

First, residents overwhelmingly showed their preference for pitched roofs over flat roofs in small commercial buildings.

Brodeur said that while most of the 38 cities the company has dealt with have also expressed that preference, ``It doesn't come up as loud and clear as in Simi. They want a more residential, small-town look.''

Another way residents were different was in their firm stance on parking lot lighting. In addition to showing a distaste for barren, treeless lots, they wanted lights that are bright enough for safety, but not so bright that the illumination bleeds into the street.

Finally, residents said one of the most important elements was to make sure that signs are tasteful and match the overall design of the building.

Brodeur said he expects to be able to bring back a draft of the manual for the committee's review by mid- to late February.