The Simi Valley City Council is going on the record with its disapproval of the Southern California Association of Governments’ preliminary total housing needs report.

That report, which was released to SCAG cities in September for review, states that Simi Valley must add at least 5,086 new housing units (apartments or houses) by the year 2014 to meet future demand—a number most council members find unrealistic given the city’s lack of remaining developable land.

“Every time they do this, they come out with these outrageous numbers,” said Councilmember Barbra Williamson, who after 14 years on the council is no stranger to the state-mandated regional housing needs assessment. The allocation process sets two parameters for future city planning: short-term construction needs and fair share distribution of housing among income groups.

“I guess the question is: What are they smoking up there?” Williamson said.

The City Council this week decided to take an official stance opposing the draft allocation and asking Mayor Paul Miller to take its concerns to the Ventura Council of Governments, which reports directly to SCAG.

“We think they need to take a better look at this,” Miller said. “Right now, they don’t take into account the fact that not all the available land in the city is (developable) land.”

The calculations used by SCAG staff also don’t take into account restraints resulting from local growth ordinances, said assistant city manager Laura Behjan, who’s been working hard to see if both sides can reach a compromise.

“Here and in many other parts of Southern California the voters . . . have made some decisions about at what pace and how large they want their city to grow,” Behjan said. “That does present a constraint when trying to be able to meet some of these housing needs.”

Part of the problem lies in the ongoing confusion over how SCAG arrives at its calculation of construction needs, the mayor said.

“I’m not completely sure how they arrive at those numbers, and I’m not sure anybody else is either,” said a clearly dissatisfied Miller.

In hopes that there is still a chance for an adjustment before the construction needs allocation becomes final in January, the city wanted its feelings put in writing now, Behjan said.

“We want it made clear . . . we are not comfortable and certainly don’t support what numbers have been developed,” Behjan said.

She said she wasn’t aware of any other cities in the county that have stated their opposition to the preliminary report. The mayor, who attended the Ventura Council of Governments meeting yesterday, said he believes Simi Valley is not alone on this issue.

“I think all the cities grapple with this problem,” Miller said.

If that is the case, then winning the support of the county’s council of governments on this issue may be possible—a big factor in the city’s desire to have VCOG arrive at a mutually agreedupon allocation for Ventura County, which is permitted by SCAG bylaws.

“Ideally, VCOG would work out something for all of Ventura County. But if that isn’t done, there’s an appeal process individual cities can take,” Behjan said.