SIMI LOOKS AT EXTENDING ITS WELCOME; WELCOME SIGNS PROPOSED FOR FREEWAY.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Motorists long have been welcomed to Simi Valley when coming from Los Angeles, the city's metropolitan eastern neighbor, and civic leaders now want to extend an olive branch to folks entering from the west.

Two modest concrete and wood ``Welcome to Simi Valley'' signs would be constructed near the city limits on Madera Road and Tierra Rejada Road for $10,000 if the City Council approves the project.

The welcome signs are similar to one erected many years ago on Santa Susana Pass Road by a civic group. The design for the proposed sign was drafted by a local firm with city traffic and risk management officials recommending the safest placement.

``The council is looking for ways to make our city better, and I think this will do that,'' said Ronald Coons, the city's public works director.

A year after assigning the project, the council is set to review the proposal Monday.

``We're in the process of looking at the aesthetics of the community,'' said Councilwoman Barbara Williamson.

Yet Williamson, who noted she is familiar with design issues from her work in marketing and advertising, said the sign doesn't do enough for Simi Valley's image. ``I'm not real keen on the design. I would like to see something more original.''

Williamson suggested that the sign is too plain when compared, for instance, with monument signs erected by the city of Thousand Oaks that feature an oak tree. She said the welcome sign erected by the Rotary clubs of Simi Valley on a knoll in the Santa Susana Pass near the Ronald Reagan Freeway was even more attractive, with laminated wood letters set against a steel frame.

``Maybe what we need to do is put it out for competition, to see people's ideas and also make them aware of our funding constraints,'' she said.

The city does have a limited budget for the welcome signs, Coons said.

The council set aside $30,000 when it assigned the project. Coons said the proposed signs would cost $10,000 to construct, which is in addition to $4,000 the council agreed to pay for the contract for designing, planning and overseeing construction of the signs.

Coons said the city set the tone for simplicity with its signs erected in the vicinity of eight Ronald Reagan Freeway interchanges that state, ``Welcome to Simi Valley, Relax and Slow Down.'' Those feature white lettering on brown, rectangular metal signs.

``The different signs that the city has put up in the past, all of the improvements like that have been well-received,'' the public works director said.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.