Transit center squeezes out Simi’s historic citrus grove

The orange trees near the Simi Valley Civic Center have watched the city change around them for generations. They stood when the Tapo District was citrus country, when packing houses shipped fruit out by rail, and when orchards slowly gave way to subdivisions and shopping centers. Now, most of them are coming down.

On Oct. 7, the Simi Valley Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a new transit center at the northeast corner of the Civic Center property at 627 Tapo Canyon Road — a project that will require cutting down the majority of the remaining historic orange trees and protected American sycamores on the site, as the Simi Valley Acorn reported.

According to a tree report by city Maintenance Superintendent Michael Sandoval, a certified arborist, the site holds 37 existing trees, including 17 orange trees and 16 sycamores. Only six of the orange trees and six of the sycamores would remain once the project is built.

What's Being Built

The transit center is designed to move Simi Valley Transit buses off Tapo Canyon Road, where they currently lay over, improving bicycle and pedestrian safety and clearing conflicts with vehicles entering and leaving the Civic Center. The project is supported by a $7-million state grant.

Plans call for a 5,275-square-foot solar canopy with eight bus bays equipped with wireless chargers, allowing the city's electric buses to recharge during layovers. Vehicles would access the site from Avenida Simi, with a new bus-only entrance on Tapo Canyon Road. Three Simi Valley Transit routes currently serve the Civic Center, and officials said routes and schedules would remain unchanged.

Deputy Transit Director Ben Gonzalez said the redesign addresses recurring safety complaints — buses blocking the bicycle lane on Tapo Canyon Road and interfering with traffic at the Civic Center driveway.

A Grove With Deep Roots

The trees mark one of the last physical connections to Simi Valley's agricultural era. The area's farming history stretches to the 19th century, when the de la Guerra family operated Rancho Tapo and grew oranges and other fruit trees. After the Southern Pacific Railroad reached Simi Valley in 1904, the Tapo District blossomed into a major citrus-growing region.

The Tapo Citrus Association packing house, built in 1917 near Tapo Canyon Road and Alamo Street, sorted, packed and shipped citrus by rail for decades. The Civic Center now occupies the former packing house site, which was designated a Ventura County landmark in 1978.

The orange trees that survive there today are descendants of that era — a living link to the town Simi Valley used to be.

According to Sandoval's report, saving the trees isn't practical. A Phytophthora fungus in the soil prevents replanting or transplanting the orange trees, and the mature sycamores are simply too large to move.

Residents Push Back

Not everyone was convinced the tree removal was necessary.

"Why cut down decades old trees to expand a bus terminal for three routes?" resident Anthony Thompson asked during public comment, questioning whether eight bus bays were needed given current ridership and whether a smaller design could spare more trees.

"We need to start maintaining our character of Simi Valley," he said.

Nearby residents raised additional concerns about noise, traffic and pedestrian safety, noting that children regularly visit the library and park and ride bikes through the area. One speaker called buses entering and leaving the site "a disaster waiting to happen" and said flatly, "This is the wrong spot for this project." Several suggested relocating the center to an industrial area elsewhere in the city.

City officials said their hands are largely tied on the trees. Deputy Planning Director Sean Gibson said the project qualifies for an exemption from the city's Mature Tree Preservation Ordinance because the trees sit in a public right-of-way and on county property. The project also qualifies for an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act, he said — though he acknowledged the loss.

"But we do understand there will be a number of trees that will be removed," Gibson said.

Conditions Attached

The commission didn't approve the project without strings. Commissioners required that replacement trees be at least 24-inch box size — typically 8 to 15 feet tall depending on the species. They also directed staff to investigate reported noise from the solar panels and strongly recommended exploring pedestrian shielding for people waiting at the bus bays.

The decision is final unless appealed to the Simi Valley City Council.

For now, the grove still stands — a quiet remnant of the orchards and packing houses that once defined the Tapo District. When construction begins, six orange trees and six sycamores will carry that history forward, while the rest make way for the buses, solar canopy and chargers that city leaders say Simi Valley's transit system needs.

It's a familiar trade-off in a growing region: progress, measured in bus bays and grant dollars, against the slower, quieter value of trees that were here long before anyone planned a transit hub — and that, until now, had outlasted nearly everything else.