Another National Chicken Chain Lands in Simi — Here’s Why Some Neighbors Are Concerned About the New Popeyes
Daniel Jordan 
A Second Popeyes Is Coming to Simi Valley — This One Has a Drive-Thru and a Story
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — Simi Valley already has a Popeyes. So why is a second one generating so much conversation?
Because this one is different. And the road to approval wasn’t easy.
The Simi Valley Planning Commission voted 4-0 in January to approve a new drive-thru Popeyes at the corner of Tapo and Cochran streets. As reported in the Simi Valley Acorn, the new restaurant will be a 2,171-square-foot building on a roughly half-acre parcel at 2401 Tapo St., with a drive-thru stacking lane and 17 parking spaces.
But the bigger detail? It sits right next to a 16-space mobile home park that has stood for more than 70 years.
That’s where things get complicated — and interesting.
When the proposal first came before the commission in November, residents raised real concerns. Late-night delivery noise. Cooking odors drifting into the park. The height of the wall separating the drive-thru from the homes. The possibility of 24-hour operations.
The commission didn’t rush it. It continued the hearing from November to January and gave the developer time to respond.
The developer, Marok and Cheema Inc., came back with changes. The masonry wall goes up from 6 feet to 7 feet. Restaurant hours are now capped at 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. — no overnight drive-thru traffic. Deliveries are restricted to twice a week between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The restaurant will also use a filtration system that removes 85% of airborne grease particles, according to the Acorn story.
The city’s own traffic study estimated about 423 daily trips, with 44 during the evening peak hour and no morning peak-hour impact.
Then there’s the piece of this story that surprised people.
The mobile home park has been family-owned since 1953, spanning more than seven decades and six generations, according to family representative Macie Morris. The vacant commercial corner once housed an AM/PM market, and when that closed, the loss of rental income made it harder to keep space rents low for senior residents. Resident Heidi Cordova told the commission the new Popeyes is “a true lifeline for the park.”
The developer agreed to fund park improvements as part of the project — 24 striped parking spaces, 16 of them covered, new landscaping, a trash enclosure, and a mailbox area. Most residents currently park on unpaved surfaces.
Planning Commission Chair Ivana Christmann said she visited the mobile home park after the November hearing to listen directly to residents. “They felt like they would be misplaced after the January hearing if we voted to not approve Popeyes,” she said.
The existing Popeyes on Erringer Road has no drive-thru. The new Tapo and Cochran location fills that gap — and for residents on that side of town, it means more convenience closer to home.
The process was messy at times. The concerns were real. But the commission worked through them, the developer adapted, and a long-vacant corner gets a new chapter — along with a mobile home community that gets some long-overdue improvements.
(Source: Simi Valley Acorn, “Commission clears Popeyes for Cochran, Tapo corner,” by Michele Willer-Allred, February 21, 2026)
