Suit Filed to Block Stevenson Ranch Plan : Santa Clarita: The city’s action against the Board of Supervisors says an environmental report on the 2,555-unit project violates state laws.

Following through on a threat, the city of Santa Clarita on Monday sued the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to block construction of a 2,555-unit housing tract in the giant Stevenson Ranch development just outside the city.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that the environmental impact report prepared for the project violates state environmental laws because it fails to consider the impact of traffic, noise and air pollution on neighboring Santa Clarita.

The lawsuit came as no surprise. The Santa Clarita City Council declared its intention to sue the county and the developer, Dale Poe Development Corp., on Aug. 15. It reaffirmed that decision nine days later.

The city is seeking a court order to throw out two zoning changes and a development agreement approved by the supervisors July 31 and Aug. 2, which cleared the way for construction.

Santa Clarita also is requesting an injunction to prevent work on the project until Dale Poe addresses what the city says are gross violations of the California Environmental Quality Act.

Jeff Stevenson, a Dale Poe vice president, has repeatedly brushed aside the city’s allegations, predicting that the environmental report would withstand a challenge in court.

The contested units are part of Stevenson Ranch, a planned community west of the Golden State Freeway and south of Magic Mountain.

If built as planned by the company, Stevenson Ranch would contain about 10,000 units.

The environmental report was certified by the Board of Supervisors in 1985, two years before Santa Clarita incorporated, and thus does not consider how environmental consequences of the project would affect the young city, the suit says.

Among other things, the lawsuit says that the 5-year-old environmental report is invalid because it analyzes a project far different from the one being proposed.

For example, there were no plans to develop an 1,800-acre portion of Stevenson Ranch when the environmental report was prepared for the 2,555 units in 1985. Dale Poe now proposes to build 4,632 units on that 1,800 acres, a factor that should be addressed in the environmental report, the suit says.

To win the support of local school officials, Dale Poe has agreed to donate 13 acres and $2.4 million for a new school in the fast-growing Newhall School District.

The district, which has routinely opposed most large-scale developments, would ultimately receive about $22 million in land and cash if all of Stevenson Ranch is built.

Newhall Supt. J. Michael McGrath said last week that he was concerned that the city’s lawsuit could delay the district’s receipt of the cash and land. But McGrath also said he understood the City Council’s motives and would probably do the same if their roles were reversed.

The lawsuit is the latest of several political squabbles between Poe and Santa Clarita.

Last fall, Santa Clarita asked the Local Agency Formation Commission to place Stevenson Ranch in the city’s “sphere of influence” to make the area eligible for annexation by Santa Clarita.

LAFCO, which oversees annexations and incorporations, quashed Santa Clarita’s request, partly because Stevenson led a drive to incorporate Stevenson Ranch and adjoining neighborhoods into a city to be called Sunset Hills.

Santa Clarita council members bitterly dubbed the proposed city “Poe-dunk” and said the incorporation drive was launched only to keep Stevenson Ranch out of Santa Clarita.

LAFCO rejected the Sunset Hills bid for cityhood June 27, saying the largely undeveloped area did not have the tax base to support a city.