Santa Clarita Builder Offers to Help Pay for New Schools

In a move that could set a precedent for area developers, a major Santa Clarita Valley builder agreed Thursday to pay fees to local school districts to build classrooms for children from a proposed 1,830-home project.

Tom Lee, president of Newhall Land & Farming Co., told Los Angeles County supervisors that the firm will enter into a contract with the William S. Hart and Saugus school districts as a condition for approval of its planned Northbridge development in Valencia.

“We will not be able to build any houses other than models until an agreement has been reached with the schools,” Lee said.

The development firm is offering to pay a fee of $3,700 per home for school construction, but school officials said the amount will have to be raised to win their agreement.

$6,300 Per Home

The offer may have been prompted by the passage June 2 of ballot measures requiring developers to pay taxes of $6,300 per home in the Santa Clarita Valley to finance school construction.

The election is being challenged by two developers’ groups in a lawsuit filed earlier this week, however, and officials say the litigation could delay construction on proposed housing projects for two years or more.

But the ballot measures exempt developers who negotiate independent fee agreements with school districts.

Although Santa Clarita Valley school officials rejected as inadequate the amount the developer has offered, they said they were pleased that a builder for the first time acknowledged responsibility to help pay for schools in the area.

Responding to Newhall Land & Farming’s offer, supervisors instructed county staff members to draft by their July 9 meeting a resolution detailing the school-fee provision and other conditions the firm must meet under the county’s new computerized monitoring system for development proposals.

The Northbridge project was seen as a test of the development monitoring system approved April 28 by Superior Court Judge Norman L. Epstein as settlement of a 14-year-old civil lawsuit brought against the county by citizens’ groups seeking stricter growth controls. The system, known as the DMS, is designed to promote orderly growth in fast-growing unincorporated areas by determining if a proposed construction project would overburden roads, schools, fire and police services, libraries, water supplies and sewer systems.

Supervisors on May 7 postponed a decision on the project to make sure the county is adhering to requirements of the monitoring system.

“This is the case that will test the system,” Supervisor Ed Edleman said.

Most Requirements Met

In a report to supervisors Thursday, county planner Donald Culbertson said the project passed all DMS tests for adequate water supplies, sewers, roads, police, fire and library services.

“The major problem is schools,” Culbertson said. “That’s the only unresolved issue.”

At that point, Lee said his firm would stipulate that it not be permitted to record final tract maps until an agreement on school fees has been reached.

“We’ve been negotiating with the schools,” Lee said.

The firm has offered to pay $2,000 for each housing unit to the William S. Hart Union High School District and $1,700 to the Saugus Elementary School District, for a total of almost $6.8 million, Lee said.

The offer is lower than the amounts called for by voters, but higher than the $1.50 per square foot fees on new housing that state law now authorizes school districts to collect. Under that formula, a developer would have to pay $3,000 on a 2,000-square-foot house, with the amount divided between the high school and elementary districts.

Other Offers Expected

School officials and the developer’s representatives predicted that the other builders may soon make similar offers.

“A precedent was established here today,” said Gloria Casvin, a Newhall Land & Farming vice president.

District officials said the Northbridge development will create a need for 483 new classrooms for more than 4,000 students--the equivalent of a new elementary school, a junior high school and a senior high school. Construction costs for the three schools, not including site acquisition, are estimated at more than $35 million.

Lee said the firm already has provided a site for an elementary school and has offered to dedicate junior and senior high school sites within a mile of the Northbridge project.

Fast-paced development in the Santa Clarita Valley has created crowding at all grade levels. School officials say at least $300 million is needed to build more than 25 schools to house a student population that is expected to double to more than 40,000 within 20 years.

“I am obviously pleased,” Hart Supt. Clyde Smyth said of the Northbridge developer’s offer. “I’m very, very proud of the stand that Newhall Land & Farm has taken, and I would hope that other developers would follow suit. I’m hoping this will have turned the corner and we can look at ways to help each other.”

Mary Antle of the Community Alliance for Responsible Expansion said Lee’s action “should set a precedent for other developers.” The organization appealed the Regional Planning Commission’s approval of the Northbridge project, claiming that it does not conform to the DMS.

Antle said work on roads, sewers and other “mitigation measures” agreed to by the developer are evidence that the monitoring system will work.

“We feel the DMS has done its job,” she said.