Santa Clarita Studies Swap of Land for OK on Dump

The Santa Clarita City Council is eyeing a 520-acre parcel of land in Saugus as a home for a civic center, which may entail complicated dealings involving the young city, the county and city of Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service and a dump.

Under a proposed swap, the city would get the abandoned Saugus Rehabilitation Center for alcoholics by agreeing not to oppose county plans to open a landfill in Elsmere Canyon, just south of Santa Clarita.

The Santa Clarita City Council discussed the trade Thursday night, a day after it ordered city staff to study the feasibility of obtaining the property either through purchase or the swap, which was proposed this month by Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Councilwoman Jan Heidt said Antonovich made the proposal in an Aug. 12 meeting with her and Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon. The details of the swap have to be worked out, Heidt said.

One basic question is whether Los Angeles would give Santa Clarita the land or simply give the city first rights to purchase the property.

Elsmere Canyon is on county land 4 miles south of Santa Clarita, just east of the junction of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways. County planners say Elsmere has emerged as a leading contender among six possible dump sites, but a final decision may be a few years away.

Dump Site Fears

Santa Clarita council members have not formally opposed or supported the Elsmere plan, but have expressed fears that the dump could contaminate Santa Clarita’s ground water. If the council decided not to oppose the dump, therefore, it could be blamed later by Santa Clarita Valley residents if water became contaminated.

The Saugus Rehabilitation Center, however, offers the city a unique opportunity because it is a large, central tract that could provide needed park space, Heidt said. The site, which is south of Bouquet Canyon Road, is owned by the city of Los Angeles.

The Elsmere landfill would include U.S. Forest Service land, which the city of Los Angeles would have to acquire through a separate land swap. The city of Los Angeles, which owns the rehabilitation center, would have to cooperate with the county, which would operate the dump, to complete the other swap to obtain Santa Clarita’s agreement to construction of the landfill.

At a study session Wednesday, the Santa Clarita City Council discussed several possible uses of the site now occupied by 40 dilapidated and vandalized buildings occasionally inhabited by transients and used for teen-age drinking parties.

City Manager George Caravalho said the land could be used for a City Hall, cultural center and recreation area. The site also could be used for a golf course, sports facility, auditorium, hiking trails, swimming pools or an arts and crafts center, he said.

Heidt said she would like to see much of the site turned into parkland. “That is a bit of open space that should be preserved,” she said.

Caravalho said the land is being appraised and could be sold for as much as $10 million.

Santa Clarita is not the only potential purchaser of the Saugus Rehabilitation Center. A developer has suggested that the site be used for a 1,600-space mobile home park for those uprooted by closures of other mobile home parks.

Subdivision Plan

Another proposal, included in an appraiser’s report to Los Angeles planners, recommended the center be turned into a subdivision with 1,100 homes and apartments.

The Castaic Lake Water Agency is interested in purchasing 85 acres of the site for a second water-treatment plant to accommodate the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley. The agency’s board will discuss those efforts next Wednesday.