RESORT HOTEL URGED FOR SIMI; PLAN FOR CANYONS WOULD CUT HOMES, PUBLIC OPEN SPACE.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

The developer poised to build golf courses in Dry and Tapo canyons, within the Whiteface residential project, wants to slash the number of homes, yet virtually eliminate public open space.

The change proposed by Big Sky Country Club, a New Mexico developer, would place 87 homes on rural lots and 12 more homes on 947 acres of ``private'' open space, leaving the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District with a 15-acre salt marsh and none of the 1,154 acres of open space in the project the Simi Valley City Council approved in 1992, according to city planners.

Simi Valley would gain its first resort hotel under the proposed change, which would complement the championship golf course planned for Tapo Canyon.

Michael Kerney, Big Sky's executive vice president, said the intent is to reduce the project's overall density and development of the canyons by limiting hillside grading and concentrating building in flat areas.

``We've got 1,700 acres, but only about 400 to 500 acres are developable. So we're keeping all the mountains and hillsides in open space - just not public,'' Kerney said. ``We are going to extend a trail from Madera Road up the base of Whiteface. You can actually see Oxnard and out toward the ocean from there. There's tremendous views.''

Rancho Simi park district officials contend the proposed change would ``parcelize'' the property and be inconsistent with the project's environmental study dealing with wildlife corridors and habitat.

``We were very happy with that original plan. We have a whole system of trails worked out for that area,'' said Bonnie Carpenter, a longtime Rancho Simi board member. ``I don't want to see any loss of open space.''

The proposal for the approved project in the 1,677-acre area in Dry and Tapo canyons is expected to be followed by changes in the 985-acre project in the Sand Canyon portion of the Whiteface Specific Plan, city planners said.

The city has approved 1,128 residential units, mostly for senior citizens, a golf course and 519 acres of open space. Planners said the proposed changes would call for more dense senior housing and residential estates, eliminating the golf course.

At City Hall on Monday, the council is scheduled to initially discuss the proposed changes by Big Sky.

If the council authorizes the developer to prepare a formal proposal, city planners recommend that most of the ``private'' open space residential lots be reduced or eliminated to preserve wildlife corridors and that an additional 11 acres of open space be added to the 15-acre salt marsh.

Mayor Greg Stratton said the proposal is not radical and might be acceptable.

``On the one hand, that appears to be a major change, but on the other hand, open space is open space.''

Stratton agreed with a contention by Kerney that reducing public open space would save the city and park district maintenance and liability costs. Further, Stratton said the city could protect wildlife habitat and corridors by restricting land use and fencing beyond homes on vast, private parcels.

``It's got to stay open space and allow the animals to go through. You can't turn it into a little farm,'' he said.

The other major change is the proposed hotel-conference center, which would sit on 18 acres.

While Simi Valley doesn't evoke images of Carmel or Palm Springs, the championship golf course would bring in golf aficionados who need a nice place to stay, Kerney said.

``Once you build the golf course, it becomes a destination and people fly from around the world to play it,'' he said. ``It's like a corporate retreat.''

The two golf courses indeed are the centerpiece of the project planned by Big Sky, which is a limited partnership of Landmark National and the Japanese developer Mirafuji.

The original project called for 364 homes on rural lots compared with 99 under the proposed change.

But Carpenter said the city deserves more and that public open space is as important as two golf courses.