Reaction to Plan to Put Prison at Saugus : Cityhood Rally Shows Surge in Interest

Two weeks ago, the embryonic drive to forge a city from the unincorporated communities of the Santa Clarita Valley drew a sedate crowd of about 30 to its first public meeting.

Then Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley stepped into the picture.

On Monday night, an energized cityhood campaign drew about 250 people to its third public organizational meeting as residents used the forum to denounce Bradley’s plan to sell 520 acres of city-owned land in Saugus to the state for construction of a maximum-security prison.

Organizers of the drive to unite Newhall, Valencia, Saugus, Canyon Country and Castaic contend that cityhood would afford residents greater control over development projects and decisions such as where to locate prisons and hazardous-waste dumps. The drive’s leaders have predicted that the prison issue will power their petition drive, the first step in Los Angeles County’s incorporation process.

At the rally Monday night at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, the two state legislators who represent the Santa Clarita Valley criticized Bradley’s plan and lent some support to the concept of cityhood.

Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) endorsed the cityhood movement outright, and Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), without issuing an explicit endorsement, told the crowd that “the closer the government is to you, the safer you are.

“That should not be made a commercial for cityhood. That’s just my philosophy.”

Although originally organized by cityhood advocates, the meeting centered on opposition to the prison plan. Representatives of a newly formed group called “Save Our Valley From Bradley’s Prison” asked residents to lobby public officials to defeat the proposal for a Saugus prison.

A form letter distributed to the audience listed several objections to Bradley’s plan, including the proposed location of the prison near thousands of single-family homes, the presence of six schools within two miles of the site and a lack of public facilities--such as sewers, public transportation and adequate roads--to handle a correctional institution.

The letter urges public support for putting the prison at the Crown Coach site, in an industrial area near downtown Los Angeles that was approved as a possible prison location by the state Board of Corrections.

“Santa Clarita,” as now proposed, would become a city of about 102,000 people encompassing an area of 92 square miles just north of the San Fernando Valley.

On Oct. 14, an organizing committee drawn from the Canyon Country and Santa Clarita Valley chambers of commerce announced the bid for cityhood, the fourth in the area since 1962. The three previous attempts failed, as did two attempts to form a separate county.

Under the county’s city-forming procedures, the committee must first gather the signatures of at least 25% of the registered voters within the proposed city. Next, the county Local Agency Formation Commission must approve the proposal after analyzing the entity’s economic viability. Finally, the plan must be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors, which would put the issue before voters of the proposed city unless more than 50% of the area’s registered voters sign written protests.

Incorporation could be voted on as early as November, 1986, cityhood advocates predict.