Cityhood Backers to Pare Santa Clarita Borders

Leaders of the drive to turn five Santa Clarita Valley communities into a 95-square-mile city conceded Wednesday, after their first hearing before the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission, that they will have to scale down their proposal.

“We recognize that we absolutely must redraw the boundaries somewhat,” said Carl Boyer III, chairman of the Santa Clarita City Formation Committee.

Commissioners voted 5 to 0 to continue the hearing until April 22 so that more information can be compiled on the financial feasibility of a city with the boundaries as proposed by the cityhood committee and as drawn by LAFCO executive director Ruth Benell.

Castaic to Be Excluded

Benell earlier this month recommended that the cityhood committee’s proposal to forge a city from the unincorporated communities of Castaic, Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus and Valencia be redrawn to exclude Castaic and all areas west of the Golden State Freeway.

Benell also revised an earlier estimate that the proposed city would have an annual budget deficit of $2.5 million. The deficit would be $4.4 million, she said, because of the $1.9 million it would cost to transfer traffic enforcement from the California Highway Patrol to the Sheriff’s Department.

Commissioners said they are concerned about the size of the proposed city and the potential budget deficit. They encouraged the cityhood committee to submit its own smaller alternatives to the original proposal.

“Let’s cut it down and see if it’s really viable,” said Commissioner Henri F. Pellissier, the Board of Supervisors’ appointee to LAFCO.

Tried to Form a County

Noting that residents of the area have twice tried to form their own county, he said, “I would hope that we could adjust the boundaries so they can start a city.”

“It’s going to be very important to me and my vote that the numbers work,” said Commissioner Thomas E. Jackson, a Huntington Beach city councilman.

Commission Chairman Kenneth Chappell, a West Covina councilman, predicted that Wednesday’s meeting will be the first of several the commission will have before deciding. He said the proposed city is the largest ever brought before the commission.

Benell said the issue probably will not be decided in time to be included on the Nov. 4 ballot, as cityhood backers had hoped. Commissioner Hall Bernson, a Los Angeles city councilman, suggested that a special election be called if the proposal fails to make that ballot.

About 150 people attended the two-hour public hearing, in which Santa Clarita Valley residents argued for more local control and denied that they are anti-growth. Some builders said they fear that elected leaders of the new city would place a moratorium on development in the fast-growing area.

“We cannot support the city as proposed,” said Richard Wirth, director of the Government Affairs Council of the Southern California Building Assn. “We must oppose it because it’s much too large.”

Some speakers protested the proposed deletion of Castaic.

“Castaic is not an isolated, self-sufficient community separate and removed from the remainder of the Santa Clarita Valley,” said Castaic resident Michael Kotch. The five communities in the proposal are “intertwined in many ways,” he said.

The motion by Bernson to continue the hearing also instructed the LAFCO staff to determine whether recently incorporated cities had imposed building moratoriums.

Building Moratorium Feared

Bernson’s request came in response to fears expressed by developers that elected leaders of the proposed new city would call a moratorium on building for 30 months--the maximum time allowed by state law for new cities to adopt general plans.

Connie Worden, vice chairwoman of the cityhood committee, said she was not disappointed at the meeting’s outcome. The committee will develop alternatives to present to the commission at the next hearing, she said.

“We’d just hoped to stay alive today,” she said. “I now see light at the end of the tunnel. I only wish that the tunnel weren’t so long.”