From Fairways to Front Yards: Simi Valley Planners Approve Lost Canyons Overhaul
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) -- The Simi Valley Planning Commission voted 4-0 on June 3 to recommend City Council approval of a major overhaul to the long-planned Lost Canyons development. Commissioner Lee Kennedy was absent. The changes would shift where homes are built, drop the requirement to reopen a shuttered golf course, and set aside more land for open space.
The project, proposed by NPLC Lost Canyons, LLC of Newport Beach, covers roughly 1,770 acres in the hills north of the city, bordered by the Big Sky subdivision and surrounded by single-family homes and open space. The developer, working with homebuilder Toll Brothers, wants to move 178 of the already-approved 364 homes from the south side of Lost Canyons Drive to the north side, where the golf course fairways once were. The south side, which had been slated for roads and 180 building pads under the previously approved plan, would largely become open space. Two estate lots would remain on the southern edge, one accessed from Anderson Drive and one from Ditch Road.
The golf course on the north side closed years ago. According to a city report, the existing specific plan required it to be reopened once home construction began. The developer is asking the city to drop that requirement entirely and build homes on the former fairways instead. The land on the north side was already disturbed by grading done for the golf course, which is central to the applicant's argument that the amendment is a sensible use of land that has already been altered.
Representing the developer, Rick Nelson told commissioners the revised plan would create more open space than the version already on the books. He said the developer plans to dedicate property to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District for a public trailhead, repurpose former golf cart paths as walking trails, and reduce the project from five phases to two. He estimated that site grading would take about nine months, followed by another nine to 12 months to build a new reservoir, pump station and utilities. "My guess is for the first phase it's probably about three years," Nelson said.
The community inside the development will be gated, with private streets and on-street guest parking throughout. Lot sizes on the north side will range from roughly 6,500 square feet to just under 24,400 square feet. Side yard setbacks would be reduced from 10 feet to five feet to give homeowners more room for patios and accessory structures. A section of Tapo Canyon Road between Presidio Drive and Lost Canyons Drive would be narrowed from 52 feet to 45 feet due to geotechnical conditions in the area, with the center median removed. Bike lanes and a sidewalk would be kept.
Rather than prepare a new full environmental review, the city added an addendum to the environmental report adopted in 2011, concluding that the changes would not create significant new impacts. Not all residents agreed with that conclusion. A letter submitted to the commission pointed to the Sandy Fire of May 2026, which burned more than 2,200 acres, forced the evacuation of roughly Simi 44,000 residents, and took ten days to contain. The writer argued that wildfire conditions have changed substantially since 2011 and that the addendum's finding of no substantial new impact no longer holds up.
Concerns about fire and evacuation ran through much of the public comment. Residents questioned whether Tapo Canyon Road, already proposed to be narrowed, could handle an emergency evacuation. Others raised worries about homeowners insurance. "We just had a fire three weeks ago," one speaker said. "A lot of insurance companies are not going to insure people with homes in the mountains."
Neighbors near the project's southern edge questioned why any lots were being kept on Anderson Drive and Ditch Road, with one speaker also recalling that during the Simi Fire of 2003, the streets became impassable. Others asked what would stop future applicants from returning to rezone the newly designated open space for additional homes. "What prevents another company from coming in, taking even more space, and changing the zoning again?" one resident asked.
Several speakers raised concerns about wildlife and trails. A parent who hikes the area weekly with his three children asked that any approval include conditions protecting trail access, noting that development near two other Simi Valley trails had already degraded walking conditions. "Once these natural areas are altered, they're difficult or impossible to restore," he said. A longtime resident who has lived in Simi Valley since 1967 worried about the pace of development overall and questioned how much more the hills could absorb.
One resident who said he supports the project nonetheless called two lanes on Tapo Canyon Road inadequate given the volume of cyclists and drivers who use it, and flagged that cell service in the area is unreliable during emergencies.
When commissioners spoke before the vote, each framed the decision in similar terms: the development is already approved. The question before them was not whether to build, but where. Commissioner John Tolson said the proposal puts homes on land already scraped flat for fairways rather than displacing natural habitat. "We're not relocating snakes," he said. "We're putting houses on that golf course property." Commissioner Allan C. Mann said consolidating the homes made more sense from a fire safety standpoint than spreading them out. Commissioner Ivana Christmann, who had earlier asked about the traffic study and the evacuation capacity of the roads, said she believes the revised plan delivers more open space and that rejecting it would leave the older, less favorable layout in place.
Chair Ken Rice, who said he has followed the project for 15 years and hiked the trails himself, offered the starkest reason to act. If the city leaves the southern parcel alone, he warned, state housing law could force far more density there than anyone wants. "If we do nothing, instead of them getting another 180 homes, they're going to get 360 more homes, and there'll be nothing we can do about it," Rice said.
The motion to recommend approval was made by Tolson and seconded by Christmann. The vote was 4-0. The recommendation now goes to the City Council for a final decision. No date for that hearing has been announced.
