Santa Catarina Developer Submits New Plan

The developer who proposed the controversial Santa Catarina project, rejected by the Santa Clarita City Council last month, has submitted to the city a new plan for the site.

In a July 31 letter to City Manager George Caravalho, the developer, Dan Palmer of G.H. Palmer Associates, did not specify the number of units he wants to build. But Palmer said the new project would take into consideration the objections of homeowners, who said the Santa Catarina proposal was too large and would destroy a nearby stream.

As a “healing gesture of good faith,” Palmer offered to extend Golden Valley Road from Soledad Canyon Road to Ermine Street, thus providing the city with a badly needed route into the Blue Sky Mesa neighborhood in Canyon Country.

Mayor Jo Anne Darcy reacted cautiously Tuesday to the Palmer letter. “I just don’t know what to say,” she said. “I don’t know enough about it yet.” The council is scheduled to consider the request next Tuesday.

The debate over the Santa Catarina plan polarized the city and left homeowners, City Council members and the developer bitter and angry after months of lengthy public hearings.

The council wanted Palmer to provide millions of dollars in road improvements in exchange for city approval of the Santa Catarina project. But ultimately, the roads-for-condos swap became too complex and controversial. The council voted 4 to 1 last month to kill the project.

In his letter, Palmer dropped what had been a confrontational stance with the city and appealed for cooperation between Santa Clarita and his company.

“Although the Santa Catarina project was met with what recently became insurmountable political opposition,” Palmer wrote, “it would be unfortunate for either of us to let some very focused opposition frustrate this otherwise popular and uniquely positive opportunity for the broader community.”

Palmer wrote that he and Caravalho should “stand together before the City Council in unified support of a pared down, less controversial agreement that preserves and provides the benefits that the city has worked so hard to obtain.”

Palmer also touched on the city’s tentative approval of another Palmer Associates effort known as The Colony, an 800-unit condominium complex in Canyon Country. The council had said approval of The Colony would become final only after the city resolved the Santa Catarina issue.

In his letter, Palmer asked the city to give The Colony final approval. In return, he promised that he would build the Golden Valley Road extension and allow a second proposed road, Rio Vista, to cross through another Palmer housing development now under construction.

Palmer said he would build Golden Valley Road even though there no guarantees the city would later approve a new housing project for the Santa Catarina site.