Planners Seek Two-Thirds Cut in Housing Projects
Los Angeles County planners, dealing a sharp setback to pleas from developers in the burgeoning Santa Clarita Valley, recommended Monday that they be allowed to build less than a third of the housing projects on the drawing boards.
Under the plan, 12,500 housing units could be built in the valley in the next 20 years, well below the more than 38,000 units proposed by developers. One ambitious project of more than 4,600 units would be cut back to fewer than 900.
The recommendations released Monday refine a draft plan prepared last fall by the Department of Regional Planning, which is creating a new general plan for the valley, 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and best known as the home of Six Flags Magic Mountain.
The proposed plan still must be approved by the Regional Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. The commission will hold a hearing on the plan Thursday.
Developers attending a hearing on the draft plan in January asked county planners to ease the stringent growth restrictions. Trying to drum up support for their projects, developers promised to build roads, create parks and donate land for new schools, libraries and fire stations.
The pleas and promises voiced at the January hearing did not sway county planners. Except for a few revisions and corrections, the recommendations released Monday closely resemble the draft plan released last fall, said Lee Stark, a county planner.
Last fall’s draft plan set large, sweeping goals for growth in the valley, while the report released Monday outlined in detail how many units each developer could build.
The greatest changes recommended Monday involved Northlake, a proposed 5,100-unit housing tract between the Golden State Freeway and Castaic Lake. Planners rejected the project entirely last fall, but now recommend that the area be zoned for 1,800 units.
Stark said county planners decided to endorse Northlake because the project enjoys widespread backing from merchants and schools in nearby Castaic and is located close to the Golden State Freeway. Northlake also would occupy mostly flat land that would not require much grading, he said.
By allowing construction of Northlake, the planners would raise the number of units that could be built under the proposed plan from 10,000 to 12,500.
The proposed general plan would uphold a county policy that would allow the Santa Clarita Valley’s population, now about 150,000, to swell to 270,000 by 2010. Stark said a lack of roads, water and other public facilities is prompting the county to slow the rapid pace of growth in the valley, where the population has increased 150% in 12 years.
If approved as recommended, the plan would disallow projects that do not provide badly needed roads or other public services. The plan also rejects projects which require major grading of hillsides.
The plan would chop in half a 1,623-unit project by Paragon Homes that would erect homes right against the border of the Angeles National Forest. Stark said planners try to keep a buffer zone between the forest and development.
The biggest apparent loser in the scramble among developers for county approval would be the Dale Poe Development Corp., which wants to add 4,632 units to its Stevenson Ranch development west of the Golden State Freeway and south of Magic Mountain. The proposed plan would allow only 891 more units on the property.
Stark said the Poe property includes jagged hills that county planners found unsuitable for development. “With more suitable valley land available to meet development needs, there is no justification for this project and the extensive landform alteration that would be necessary,” the recommendations released Monday said.
CURTAILING GROWTH IN SANTA CLARITA Los Angeles County planners preparing a development plan that will guide growth in the Santa Clarita Valley until 2010 have significantly scaled back requests by builders to construct houses, condominiums and apartments. The recommendations could still be revised by the Regional Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
POTENTIAL LOSERS
Units recommended Developer Units requested under proposed plan Dale Poe Dev. Corp. 4,632 891 Santa Fe Development 1,979 309 John Huiskes 1,157 300 Paragon Homes 1,623 875 Anden 683 150 Larwin 675 142
POTENTIAL WINNERS
Units recommended Developer Units requested under proposed plan W.H.T. Loh 878 625 Valencia Co. 7,009 4,625 (North River project) Northlake* 5,100 1,800 Valencia 1,896 1,398 (Westridge project)
* Although the Northlake project would be scaled down by county planners, the recommendation is a victory for the company because an earlier county report recommended that Northlake not be built at all.
