Santa Clarita Bridge Spat Escalates Into Fight for the Future

What started out as a spat between two Santa Clarita neighborhoods over a proposed bridge has grown into a thorny political issue that could influence traffic planning in the young city for years to come, residents involved in the dispute say.

The dispute could also affect a proposed road-tax initiative tentatively scheduled to appear on the November ballot, the residents say.

The controversy centers on a bridge that would link Valencia with the Circle J development, a secluded community of 600 homes east of San Fernando Road. The bridge would cross San Fernando Road, railroad tracks and the Santa Clara River. It would connect Wiley Canyon Road, which comes to a dead end in Valencia, with Via Princessa, which comes to a dead end in Circle J.

Circle J residents say the bridge would provide a badly needed second access for the development. When trains stop along the railroad tracks, they often block the lone entrance to the community. What would police or fire departments do, the residents ask, if trains blocked the tracks during a major emergency?

Unwanted Traffic

Valencia residents counter that the bridge would funnel unwanted traffic into their tranquil neighborhood and turn Via Princessa and Wiley Canyon into a major east-west artery. “You don’t build a major expressway through a neighborhood,” said Tamsie Irvan, a Valencia resident opposing the bridge. “You just don’t do that.”

When the dispute erupted six weeks ago, each side accused the other of being selfish and insensitive. Hundreds of residents packed City Hall to hear the council debate the issue last month.

Tempers cooled last week when city officials arranged a face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two groups.

“Up until now, the majority of what’s been said has been emotionally said,” said Valencia resident Rusty Langston. “There were hate words going back and forth.”

But now, Langston said, Valencia residents will wait to hear a detailed explanation of how the bridge might affect their community. City traffic officials are scheduled to meet with Valencia and Circle J residents Tuesday before the City Council hears yet more testimony on the issue. The council is tentatively scheduled to decide May 23 whether to build the bridge.

Community Needs

Keith McNally, a bridge proponent, said the bridge controversy demonstrates how the council must balance the needs of the community with the desires of a single neighborhood. Although the bridge may inconvenience residents near Wiley Canyon Road, it will provide a crucial link in the Santa Clarita Valley’s poor highway system, he said.

There are very few east-west thoroughfares in the valley, and the bridge would provide another link in the proposed highway system between Valencia and Canyon Country, McNally said. Eventually, planners hope to connect Via Princessa from Wiley Canyon Road to the Antelope Valley Freeway to create the new thoroughfare.

The valley’s unique traffic problems require everyone to make sacrifices, he said. “I think it’s important that we all share in the traffic burden.”

Circle J is willing to make its own sacrifices for the general good, McNally said. If Circle J gets its bridge, residents of the development will support plans for a major north-south artery--Rio Vista Road--which would pass uncomfortably close to Circle J homes, he said. One of the tentative routes proposed for Rio Vista would go through the development.

Tolerable Inconvenience

Circle J residents would rather see Rio Vista routed elsewhere, but they are willing to put up with the inconvenience, McNally said. The alignment of Rio Vista also is under study by the City Council.

If the council heeds the Valencia complaints and votes down the bridge, it will have little luck persuading Circle J to support Rio Vista, McNally said. Voting down the bridge would set a dangerous precedent because other neighborhoods, emboldened by Valencia’s example, would try to block projects that would help the valley as a whole, he said.

McNally and Circle J’s developer, Watt America, also have said they would campaign for a proposed road tax that would add $75 to $200 to annual property tax bills. The measure, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage, would be used to build and improve roads throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, including Rio Vista.

The City Council already has agreed to place the measure on the Nov. 7 ballot. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors still must agree to put the measure before the voters.

But Irvan said approval of the bridge could motivate Valencia residents to oppose the road tax. Compared to other parts of Santa Clarita, Valencia’s traffic problems are minimal because the community lies conveniently close to Interstate 5. Road projects supported by the tax would only siphon more traffic into Valencia, she said.

“Why should we allow traffic to be siphoned through here in an insane way?” she asked.