Santa Clarita Council Delays Vote on Park Youth Club

The Santa Clarita City Council, saying it wants to study the issue before setting a precedent that would influence the future of the young city’s park system, has postponed action on a controversial request by the Boys and Girls Club to build a gymnasium and clubhouse in a city-owned park.

Although council members indicated they probably will support the club’s proposal, they voted unanimously Thursday to delay action on the plan for 30 days to let city officials draft a policy to handle requests for public-private ventures such as the one envisioned by the club.

The club wants to build a $1.1-million clubhouse and related facilities at Newhall Park on land the city would lease to the club for $1 a year for 25 years. Tom Veloz, club president, said the group asked the city for help because it cannot afford to raise money for both land and construction.

The proposal has touched off strong protests from neighbors of the park on Newhall Avenue near William S. Hart High School. They said the clubhouse would bring more traffic to already congested streets in the area. The residents also charged that the club’s proposal would allow a private group financial gain at public expense.

The controversy has simmered for weeks, and supporters and opponents have hurled bitter remarks at one another in the local press and during meetings before the council and Planning Commission.

“The Boys Club has taken a lot of abuse,” Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon said.

On Thursday night, about 200 people attended a marathon council meeting at which 42 speakers delivered more than three hours of testimony. In all, 28 speakers supported the proposal, 12 opposed it, and two asked both sides to find a mutually acceptable site for the clubhouse.

Mike Daney, who had headed an opposition group called Friends of Newhall Park, called the 16-acre park a precious and scarce resource in a community short on park space. The park is not big enough to accommodate the clubhouse and gymnasium, Daney said.

His wife, Pat Daney, said neighbors opposed the club’s proposal but not the club itself. “In no way are we against the Boys and Girls Club,” she said.

Another resident, Laura Mehterian, said she did not want a private organization using public lands.

But Veloz assured the council that the clubhouse would be available for public use and said the club would not dominate the park. “This is a public park, our rights will never be greater than anyone else’s,” he said.

Bob Frost, general manager of community service programs in Scottsdale, Ariz., said his city has arranged many successful public-private ventures with nonprofit organizations. He called such arrangements “a longstanding trend and a current necessity in many cities.”

Frost said he was not a paid lobbyist and flew to California to testify because he believed in public-private ventures.

Veloz said the club would continue to push for the Newhall Park site, but would investigate whether a clubhouse could be built on 3 acres of vacant land not far from the Newhall Park that recently went on the market. Councilwoman Jan Heidt said another private group, the Children’s Speech and Hearing Center, is also looking at the property. She said both groups have agreed to study whether they can purchase the land jointly to build facilities for the club and the center.