Protesters Urge Developer to Seek Funds for Schools

A folksy parade of two dozen parents and children marched outside the Santa Clarita headquarters of the Newhall Land and Farming Co. Saturday, claiming the huge developer’s bid to build 491 houses in the Castaic area should be denied unless the firm helps find additional funds for school construction.

The march was the latest episode in a growing rebellion by parents who say unbridled development is strangling Santa Clarita Valley schools. The crush has forced children into temporary classroom buildings and special class schedules as educators attempt to deal with the overflow of students.

Newhall Land, one of the state’s largest landowners, is seeking approval Tuesday for its 491-unit Castaic Hills project from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The company has painstakingly tried to cultivate an image as a caring developer and recently tried to mollify parents and educators by volunteering to pay extra fees into a school construction fund.

Under state law, developers must pay a fee of $1.56 for each square foot they build. The money is used to defray the cost of school construction. However, Newhall Land has agreed to pay $2.34 per square foot--or 50% more than is required--on the Castaic Hills project. The offer would provide about $1.7 million in fees, or add about $600,000 more than is required to the construction kitty.

But Newhall Land’s proposal is inadequate, said Pat Saletore, mother of three and a member of Parents Lobby, the group that organized Saturday’s protest.

It would take a fee of $4.60 per square foot to pay for the cost of building the classroom facilities needed to accommodate the Castaic Hills project, Saletore said. She also claimed the company’s offer to pay the extra fees contains loopholes.

Saletore and other protesters, including recently elected Newhall School District board member Zandra B. Stanley, said that what they really hope to gain with their demonstration tactics is the support of Newhall Land in the group’s effort to change state laws that provide funding for school construction.

“I want them to take their power to Sacramento and work with us to change the laws there,” Saletore said. “We don’t have much power, but they sure do.”

“It’s in everybody’s self-interest that we work this out,” Stanley added.

“They say it’s paradise out here and that we have wonderful schools and shopping and low crime rates--that’s their sales pitch,” Stanley said. “We’re telling those people out there who are looking to buy in this area that this isn’t so.”

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land, agreed with protesters that state laws need to be reformed so that additional tax dollars for school construction--raised statewide--are allocated to fast-growing districts.

“We share the Parents Lobby concern that Santa Clarita Valley residents are not getting a fair return on their tax dollars to build school facilities,” Lauffer said.

Lauffer added that the company has had a longstanding tradition of helping local schools. The firm sponsors scholarships and holds an annual dinner to pay tribute to teachers. At its 1,800-unit Northbridge subdivision the company agreed to pay $6,300 per unit into a school construction fund, nearly twice what the law required, Lauffer said.