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Councilwoman Angrily Denies Conflict of Interest Charge

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Jan Heidt, in an angry outburst at a council meeting Tuesday night, said a developer had unjustly accused her of having a conflict of interest that could leave her ineligible to vote on a project proposed by the developer.

Heidt said she was angered by a letter to the state Fair Political Practices Commission by Douglas R. Ring, attorney for G.H. Palmer Associates, raising the issue of conflicts of interest.

Heidt’s husband, Gerald Heidt, owns property near the location of a proposed project by the Palmer firm at San Fernando Road and Sierra Highway.

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At a public hearing before the City Council more than a year ago, Palmer’s attorneys had suggested Gerald Heidt’s property could constitute a conflict for his wife.

Heidt said she was tired of having the matter brought up again.

“Mr. Ring, I am tired of being jerked around!” she said angrily. She said Ring’s letter, mailed Tuesday, was filled with “innuendo I resent very much.” She did not read the letter at the meeting.

Councilman Carl Boyer III denounced the letter as well. “I think the letter alleging a conflict of interest is a filthy smoke screen,” Boyer said.

Ring, in an interview, said the letter never mentioned Heidt and sought general guidelines on conflicts of interest.

He said he only wrote the letter because of recent news accounts which suggested the Heidt case had never been resolved by the FPPC.

At issue is a proposed agreement that would allow G.H. Palmer Associates to construct more than 2,400 condominiums in Canyon Country in exchange for $30 million in road improvements.

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The road projects are centered in the proposed developments but would help traffic flow throughout Santa Clarita, city planners said.

The council will hold a hearing to take public testimony on the issue March 27.

The agreement would guarantee Palmer the right to build three separate projects--known as Santa Catarina, Vista Terrace and Westcreek--over 10 years.

Zoning and development requirements would remain constant during the life of the agreement, thus freeing the developer from potential changes in city regulations in the future.

The agreement, as approved March 6 by the city Planning Commission, would let Palmer build 1,452 condominiums in Santa Catarina, 103 condominiums in Vista Terrace and 903 condominiums in Westcreek.

But Palmer officials want a fourth development, a 800-condominium project called The Colony, also included in the pact.

The Planning Commission voted to exclude The Colony, saying it had reservations about residential development on the 43-acre site east of the Antelope Valley Freeway and west of Woodfall Road.

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