Kadota Fig

The county recorded Kadota Fig Farms No. 4, west of Tapo Street, in March 1927 and No. 5, east of it, that May, about 300 lots in all. The Simi Valley Historical Society says promoter W.F. Loomis planted Kadota figs, named the streets Adam, Eve, Apricot, Barnard, Kadota and Fig, and told buyers a couple of acres of trees could support them. East of Kadota Street the land comes from the 1926 La Placentia Tract. While the rest of the valley filled with tracts after the 1950s, owners here kept farm animals and split their lots a few at a time.

South of the 118, the city's Southeast Kadota Fig Specific Plan, adopted Dec. 9, 1996 (Ordinance No. 878) after a study committee of residents and owners asked to keep change on that side of the freeway, guides about 92 acres along Cochran Street. It allows about 447 homes in five planning units, more with senior or affordable-housing bonuses, in Ranch, Monterey and Hacienda styles; most built so far are the 200 of Tract 5092 (2000–01). On the south side of Cochran, Mountain View Properties at 4862 Cochran St., a gated three-story building of 50 one- and two-bedroom apartments for renters 55 and older, was built in 2016. North of the freeway, the city's Envision Simi Valley plan calls for smaller-scale building on Tapo Street to protect the area's single-family, agricultural character.

The lay of the land

Big, uneven lots left from 1920s fig farms, on older streets that often lack curbs and under large trees, with small older houses, custom homes and compact later tracts side by side; the 118 runs through the middle, palm-lined Alamo Street marks the north edge, and the 2000-era homes of Tract 5092 fill the land between the freeway and Cochran Street east of Kadota Street

In county records the 1927 Kadota Fig Farms maps stop at Kadota Street, and their companion No. 6 map north of Alamo Street was redrawn as the Texas Tract starting in 1961. The city's 1996 Southeast Kadota Fig Specific Plan describes the original Kadota Fig area as 448 acres bounded by Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo, Stearns, Leeds and Cochran streets. That takes in the 1926 La Placentia Tract blocks east to Stearns and land south of Cochran near Stearns. Auburn Lane and Fairway Park sit inside that area and have their own pages, and the Leeds Street lots also appear on the Santa Susana page. Plan history: a 1988 General Plan policy barred most rezoning in Kadota Fig until a specific plan was adopted. The city then surveyed owners, formed a Kadota Fig Area Study Committee and held two workshops in 1994. The plan's environmental impact report was filed with the state in April 1996, and a General Plan amendment (GPA-21) was adopted alongside it. In March 1995 the plan area held 35 houses, two duplexes, four churches, two private schools, two day care centers and two auto-service businesses at Cochran and Stearns. The city still lists the plan, spelled Southeast Kadota-Fig, among its specific plans. Planning units (developable acres and maximum homes): Unit 1, from the east side of Fig Street through the Las Llajas channel, 6.1 acres kept at Very Low density (half-acre lots), 12 homes. Unit 1A, from the channel to the Kadota Street extension, 6.3 acres at up to 7 homes an acre, 44 homes. Unit 2, from Kadota Street to Stearns north of Cochran, 34.5 acres at up to 7 an acre, 241 homes, or 244 with a high-density node placed toward the freeway. Unit 3, south of Cochran and west of the Latter-day Saints church, 13.6 acres: its churches and schools stay Very Low, and two parcels beside the Presbyterian church are set aside for senior housing at 15 an acre, 74 homes in all. Unit 4, east of that church to Stearns, 16.1 acres, 73 homes. The total is 444 to 447 homes (about 289 detached and 158 attached, 55 of them for seniors), or up to 708 with senior and affordable-housing bonuses. Tract 5453 is in Unit 1A, Tracts 5092 and 5483 are in Unit 2, and Auburn Lane is in Unit 4. Design rules: Ranch, Monterey, early California and Hacienda styles; earth tones, with exterior colors limited to white, beige, brown and dark green, blue or red; stucco on no more than half the area of a home's flat exterior walls; garages that do not dominate the street; no two neighboring houses in the same style; varied lot sizes, including flag lots; private streets and auto courts encouraged; 20-foot landscaped parkways on Cochran Street; a 20-foot open strip along the freeway; and an interim 15-foot trail on the east side of the Kadota Street extension until the Las Llajas channel trail is finished. South of Cochran, new building needs a 50-foot buffer and an 8-foot wall next to the Leeds Street lots, and Unit 3 allows only one story within 150 feet of its south line. The plan removed the animal-keeping overlay inside its boundary but let existing farm animals continue as nonconforming uses. Trails and parks: in 1996 a paved bike path and an unpaved trail ran beside the Las Llajas channel south of Cochran toward the Arroyo Simi path. The plan also noted Rancho Santa Susana Community Park just to the south and the Metrolink station within half a mile. Kadota Street, which then ended at the freeway overpass, now runs through to Cochran.