Santa Clarita--David Vs. Goliath : Year-Old City Votes to Sue L.A. County in Bid to Catch Its Breath, Stop Growth in Its Tracks

It was a gutsy act for a city only 357 days old.

Besieged by complaints of congested streets and crowded classrooms, the Santa Clarita City Council decided to sue Los Angeles County to stop growth around the city--at least until schools, roads and other services can catch up.

After the vote Dec. 8, the audience in the council chambers broke into applause. “It’s kind of like David and Goliath,” said one delighted resident.

The remark could well describe the city’s first year of existence--and portend an even bolder future. Santa Clarita has emerged as an energetic, if sometimes emotional and naive, David who lashes out against a host of Goliaths--the county, the city of Los Angeles, developers, dumps and power plants.

At the public’s urging, the City Council has forbidden the cutting of oaks, ordered dozens of billboards removed and prohibited development on agricultural land. In short, they have been trying to prevent Santa Clarita from becoming another cramped, overdeveloped offshoot of the San Fernando Valley.

With more than 110,000 residents, Santa Clarita is the largest municipality to be incorporated in California but retains a homespun, small-town atmosphere. It is, after all, the place where 2,000 people attending the city’s inaugural celebration joined hands and, swaying back and forth, sang “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand.”

Starts Annexations

Santa Clarita residents are egging on the City Council to make the city even bigger. The council, in turn, has started to annex land in the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley, 35 miles north of Los Angeles. It has also set some lofty goals--reducing traffic, slowing development outside the city and attaining “U.S. and world recognition.”

Some of those goals reflect an impulsiveness bred during a 30-year struggle for home rule. The council declared Santa Clarita a “drug-free city,” the mayor launched a campaign for more G-rated movies at the local theater and one council member, citing what she said were cruel farming practices, suggested the city ban the sale of veal.

The public and the council are sure to be emboldened by welcome financial news. Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon announced this month that Santa Clarita’s revenue during its first year was $26.6 million--$7.5 million more than predictions made before the city’s formation.

For the most part, the council has enjoyed a yearlong honeymoon with the public.

But as the city enters its second year, that romance may be coming to an end, especially as people hear new taxes may be needed to build roads. One study estimated that $339 million for new roads will be needed between now and 2010 to keep pace with growth.

‘Roads Separate Problem’

“We all promised not to raise taxes,” McKeon said. “But I see roads as a separate problem.”

“As much as I hate to say ‘new taxes,’ some may be necessary,” Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy said.

With or without new taxes, it is clear that residents would like to see more tangible results of cityhood and even stronger action by the council. “For 12 months, you people have been choking on these little things,” resident Jim Bowling said recently, complaining about a lengthy review of billboard restrictions.

Mike Kotch, a leader in the cityhood drive who characterized Santa Clarita’s genesis as a revolution, said the public has purposely been easy on the council during its crucial first year. “Nobody wants the revolution to fail,” he said.

That revolution dates back to the early 1950s when the valley was a rural, pristine haven for refugees from the San Fernando Valley who were attracted by rolling hills covered with oak trees. During the next 20 years, several cityhood drives were started but failed.

Then in the 1970s, a group of “separatists” twice tried to carve a county out of 400 square miles in the northwest corner of Los Angeles County. Both times, in 1976 and 1978, the ballot measure passed in Santa Clarita, which then had only 60,000 residents, but was voted down by the rest of Los Angeles County.

A decade later, the valley had grown to about 100,000 residents. Many longtime residents watched in horror as bulldozers leveled their beloved hills and oaks to build housing tracts and mini-malls. “In 1986, when we started the cityhood drive, I knew the time had come,” said Connie Worden, a longtime cityhood advocate who is now a city planning commissioner. “It was relatively easy to form a city because the people were ready for it.”

On Nov. 3, 1987, voters overwhelmingly approved incorporation, 14,416 votes to 6,747.

The city united four communities, Valencia, an upscale “master-planned” community launched in the 1960s; Saugus and Newhall, both founded in the 1870s, and Canyon Country, a mixture of housing tracts, large estates, condominiums and hog and horse farms.

Santa Clarita became the county’s 85th city, and its seventh-largest. It is surpassed only by the cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Torrance, Pasadena and Pomona. The community is 92% Anglo and the average age is 29. The average household income is $42,981--$10,000 higher than the county average.

An All-American atmosphere prevails. Santa Clarita is a place where the local Brownie or Boy Scout troop is invited to post the colors at most City Council meetings. It also is a place where, during a public meeting, the mayor asked his wife to stand and take a bow on their wedding anniversary.

More than 100 residents typically attend each council meeting and almost all stay until the end, sometimes past midnight.

Meetings have dragged on for hours, partly because the council has let citizens have their say--no matter how long it takes. “We felt it was necessary to let people talk all they wanted because for so long they haven’t had a voice,” McKeon said.