SIMI VALLEY : Appeals Court Backs Builder’s Rejection

The State Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that Griffin Homes failed to meet a 90-day deadline for challenging Simi Valley’s slow-growth ordinance, leaving the developer with only 63 houses built out of a proposed 404.

The developer had asked to build 217 residences on the Hopetown parcel, and 187 houses in a tract called Greenbriar, both at the east end of the city.

After Griffin built 63 houses at Greenbriar, the council dropped it from its list of priority projects.

The city’s slow-growth ordinance limits the number of building permits that can be issued each year, usually to fewer than 200.

City officials said they preferred to give priority to other developments. Griffin officials, however, contended that the developer should have kept its priority status until its projects were completed. It sued in July of 1989.