Cityhood Drive Leaders Say Delay Likely in Ballot Initiative

Leaders of the drive to bring five Santa Clarita Valley communities together to form Los Angeles County’s newest city have conceded that it is unlikely that they will gather enough signatures on petitions in time to get the issue on the November ballot.

Weather permitting, cityhood supporters will conduct door-to-door canvassing today to get more of the estimated 13,000 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot, said Connie Worden, a leader of the drive.

The City Feasibility Committee had hoped to have that many signatures--25% of registered voters in Castaic, Newhall, Saugus, Canyon Country and Valencia, the communities included in the proposed City of Santa Clarita--on petitions by March 2. Its leaders said this would give the county Local Agency Formation Commission time to process the cityhood application and verify signatures on the accompanying petitions in time for the November election.

Not Enough Signatures

But the committee’s volunteers, who began circulating the petitions Jan. 2, have collected only about one-third of the signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot, committee co-chairman Jim Shutte said.

Michi Takahashi, a spokeswoman for LAFCO, said it would be more realistic to aim for a 1987 election because processing a cityhood application is “very time-consuming.”

Despite the probability that the committee will not meet its deadline, Shutte said, members are “trying to accelerate the signature-gathering as fast as we can.”

Worden said volunteers have been asked to gather between 8:30 and 9 a.m. today at the committee’s headquarters, 26111 Bouquet Canyon Road, Saugus.

“We hope to have enough volunteers so that we can knock on every door,” she said.

Rain Date Scheduled

If it rains, the blitz will be postponed until March 1, Worden said. A prize will be given to the person who obtains the most signatures the day of the blitz, she said.

Although thousands more signatures are needed, both Worden and Shutte praised the efforts of volunteers circulating the petitions. “They’re doing an outstanding job,” Worden said.

One small group of volunteers has canvassed 50% of the Saugus area by itself, Shutte said.

Shutte said the care that the committee is taking to make sure each signature belongs to a registered voter also has slowed the effort.

Worden blamed the committee’s failure to obtain the necessary number of signatures on “inclement weather” on recent weekends. At this point, she said, it is more probable that the cityhood measure will be on the ballot in the spring of 1987 instead of this November.

Many Steps Involved

After signatures are verified, the LAFCO staff must review the proposal to determine whether the new city would be economically viable and whether its incorporation would cause problems for other governmental bodies. The commission can reject the proposal or modify it--by reducing the area the city would cover, for example.

Just getting an estimate of revenues that the proposed city can expect to receive from the state could take three to six months, LAFCO spokesman Takahashi said.

Takahashi said that, if the commission approves the petition, the next step is a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors. Provided that 50% of the registered voters in the affected area do not file protests with the county, she said, the board, under state law, must call an election within 88 days after the hearing closes.