Pinetree, Timberlane : Santa Clarita Begins 1st Annexation Effort

The city of Santa Clarita, less than a year old, Friday launched its first attempt to annex nearby unincorporated land, and officials there promise that more attempts will soon follow.

City officials hope to annex the Pinetree and Timberlane neighborhoods, 2.3 square miles near the interchange connecting Soledad Canyon Road and the Antelope Valley Freeway. More than 5,000 residents live in the irregularly shaped area.

The city filed an application to annex the land with the Local Agency Formation Commission, a state-mandated agency that oversees annexations and incorporations.

Kyle Kollar, Santa Clarita’s director of community development, said the city does not expect Los Angeles County to oppose the annexation because the area is residential and the county would not lose commercial sales taxes if the neighborhoods join the city.

The City Council unanimously voted Aug. 25 to pursue the annexation at the request of Pinetree and Timberlane residents. Kollar said the neighborhoods were inadvertently left outside the city boundaries last year when LAFCO reduced the city’s proposed size from 95 square miles to 40 square miles.

Annexation Promised

“I think it was just an oversight,” Kollar said.

City Council members have repeatedly vowed to annex county land to gain more control over the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley.

Santa Clarita could file more annexation papers with LAFCO in coming weeks, Kollar said.

Potential annexation sites range from land west of the Golden State Freeway to parcels south of the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Michi Takahashi, a LAFCO spokeswoman, said she could not predict how long it would take to process the city’s application.