Planning commission recommends denial of 55-foot cellphone tower
City Council will review the Town Center plan in January
By Avi Rutschman avi@theacorn.com

A 55-foot tower may soon change the skyline of Simi Valley, but not because the city’s planning commission is in favor of it.

The commission recently recommended to the City Council that it deny an amendment proposed by Forest City Commercial Development, the firm that owns the Simi Valley Town Center, that would alter the mall’s specific plan and allow for the construction of a tower on the structure’s southwest side.

According to Peter Lyons, the city planner for Simi Valley, the structure is designed to attract passing motorists to the new mall and to double as a wireless telecommunications facility.

“They want to lease space to wireless providers to help pay for the project, but the tower is more of an architectural feature designed to draw attention to the Town Center,” Lyons said.

Simi Valley, the city planner said, already has hundreds of wireless telecommunication centers throughout the city, most of which are hidden in the designs of buildings.

The original specific plan for the Town Center allowed for the construction of two 40foot towers at the Erringer Road and First Street entrances, but that plan was scrapped by the developers in favor of a single tower next to a Wells Fargo Bank, according to city officials.

Even though the plans for the structure, which is located near the freeway away from homes, were unanimously approved by the neighborhood council, the planning commission decided to recommend its denial to the City Council.

“It’s very nicely designed and the commissioners enjoyed the structure’s architecture, but they felt to locate the tower just by itself didn’t make any sense. They want to see the structure incorporated as an entry statement or in a courtyard,” Lyons said.

Forest City Commercial Development is currently attempting to revise its plans before the final presentation to the City Council on Jan. 22.

“We are taking into consideration all the comments from the planning commission, and we are trying to address them internally,” said Martin Lee, project coordinator for the development firm.