Mayor Insists Santa Clarita’s Growth Is Under Control

Santa Clarita Mayor Jo Anne Darcy on Thursday defended the City Council’s growth policies, saying that, contrary to allegations by City Hall critics, Santa Clarita has allowed little growth since it incorporated in 1987.

Darcy, in a wide-ranging “state of the city” address during a public forum at City Hall, said the council had fulfilled pledges made during the incorporation battle three years ago to control the quantity and quality of growth in the city.

The council has allowed about 680 new housing units each year in the 40-square-mile city, Darcy said. By comparison, 49-square-mile Thousand Oaks, which has a stringent growth-control ordinance, allows 650 units a year, she said. Even so, a strong anti-growth sentiment persists in Santa Clarita, where a citizens’ group is drafting a growth-control initiative to present to the voters.

Darcy and her council colleagues have said residents often mistakenly blame Santa Clarita for developments that were approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors just before incorporation.

Darcy said Thursday that Santa Clarita will continue to monitor--and perhaps fight--developments planned outside the city limits. The council recently sued the supervisors to block a 2,555-unit expansion of the giant Stevenson Ranch development, saying that the project’s environmental impact report was inadequate.

“You may see more of these actions if we have to,” Darcy said.

Darcy said recent controversies have been painful but necessary experiences for a young city still learning the art of home rule.

“Some of our council members have had to face emotional turmoil, including myself,” Darcy said. Last month, for example, the council, heavily criticized by the public for ousting popular parks Commissioner Laurene Weste, reappointed her.

The council has tried to allow broad public debate on controversial issues even though that debate may split citizens into rival camps, she said.

“While much of the controversy can be heart-wrenching for those involved, I truly believe it is a necessary part of the process and one we must go through to include the greatest amount of citizen participation,” she said.