City Loses Bid to Extend Sphere of Influence

In a stunning political defeat for Santa Clarita, a state agency on Wednesday quashed the city’s bid to extend its influence over 160 square miles of unincorporated land in the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley.

The action by the Local Agency Formation Commission was a major victory for developers.

LAFCO’s action was also a victory for Los Angeles County sanitation authorities, who wanted to prevent Santa Clarita from gaining a voice in the debate over Towsley Canyon and Elsmere Canyon, sites of two proposed garbage dumps. Santa Clarita, which celebrates its second anniversary next month, wanted control over most of the surrounding valley, where developers hope to build at least 38,000 units in the next few years.