Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I am not sure where I have claimed that Big Sky residents are proponents of the expansion. Here is my exact position on the landfill:

The City of Simi Valley handed the landfill expansion over to Waste Management on a silver platter.

I am not sure if you are aware of the Unocal development that was proposed for Alamos Canyon. That development would have almost encircled the existing landfill. If the development would have been approved then expansion of the landfill would be very difficult to almost impossible. Any expansion would have been very limited.

What many people do not consider is that when a developer proposes a large-scale development such as Alamos Canyon; the densities of the communities are critical to whether the developer can make the project work. The more restrictions a city puts on a developer – the higher the cost of the development. Your development, Big Sky is a prime example. That project was more than 10 years in planning, the astronomical costs in developing drove the pricing of those homes much higher than they should have been (including your HOA fees).

Because the city of Simi Valley was so inflexible on the densities for the Alamo’s Canyon project, Unocal backed out, abandoned their plans and sold their property to Waste Management (the most logical buyer). We as residents, allowed our city Council and Planning Commission to kill a project which would have encircled the landfill and severely limited future expansion of the landfill.

Now that the city has backed our residence into a corner on Alamos Canyon and the landfill, we are stuck with an expansion project. Your battle is going to be with the County as our city will have very little input on the future of this project.

Understanding this unpleasant predicament we are in, I can at least find a positive in that I know Mike Smith and Scott Tignac. Both are local and, involved in our communities and will be good stewards of this project. I am not saying you have to like the project, but at the very least we have good local people at the helm.

I think that this project is going be one of the most important lessons for the residents of Simi Valley, that the next time we want to kill a project, we should think about all the more serious ramifications that are tied to these properties. This was a very shortsighted view of what should happen around the landfill. The county is not going to stop this project.

These City planning blunders are not limited to the landfill expansion, this is with almost all development in the city. We have very serious issues facing our city in future development, unfortunately the right decisions to fix these problems are not popular decisions.