Voters Rejecting Sulphur Springs School Bond Issue : Municipalities and special districts: Early returns show Santa Clarita annexation bid trailing, and an outspoken environmentalist leading an incumbent.

A $30-million bond measure sought by a Santa Clarita Valley school district was trailing in early returns Tuesday night in a race being watched closely by neighboring school districts, one of seven municipal races in northern Los Angeles County.

Preliminary returns in other municipal elections showed an outspoken environmental activist leading an incumbent in a close battle for one of three seats on the Topanga-Las Virgenes Conservation District board. Voters were rejecting by slim margins a proposal by the city of Santa Clarita to annex a Canyon Country neighborhood and a measure to give the San Fernando City Council more power over the fate of the former city police station.

In contests for a Lancaster hospital board and water agency boards in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, initial tallies showed four candidates mounting surprisingly strong challenges to unseat incumbents.

The ballot proposal in the Sulphur Springs Union School District asked voters in the fast-growing Canyon Country district to approve a $30-million measure to renovate classrooms. The proposal, known as Measure CK, would extend an existing general obligation bond instead of raising taxes.

As early returns showed the measure falling short of the two-thirds vote required for passage, supporter Denny Ostrom said he feared the proposal fell victim to overall voter anger with government. District residents rarely told campaigners that they specifically opposed Measure CK, he said.

“What we heard was they were against everything,” he said.

Officials from neighboring Santa Clarita Valley districts said passage of Measure CK would set the stage for other school bond elections.

President Pat Willett of the Newhall School District board of trustees, which plans to put a bond measure before voters in June, said defeat of the Sulphur Springs measure would set a bad precedent. She said Measure CK backers appeared to have run a model campaign.

Another obscure race gaining attention was a contest for three seats on the board of the Topanga-Las Virgenes Conservation District. Environmental activist Glenn Bailey was locked in a close race with Nancy Helsley, one of three incumbents seeking reelection in a rancorous campaign.

Bailey, who pledged to take a stronger stand against development in ecologically sensitive areas, led Helsley by a slim margin and trailed incumbents David Gottlieb and Jerry Douglas in the contest for three open seats.

The district board of directors advises landowners in the West Valley and east Ventura County on conservation issues.

There was also rancor in Santa Clarita surrounding Measure Q, a proposal for Santa Clarita to annex the unincorporated Pinetree-Timberlane area. Early returns showed a slim majority of voters in the Canyon Country neighborhood of 5,000 residents rejecting the annexation bid.

City officials proposed the annexation because the county area was intended to be part of Santa Clarita when the city incorporated three years ago, but was not annexed for reasons that remain unclear. Proponents said the measure would give the area new political clout.

Critics contended that becoming part of the city would mean unwanted new government and new taxes, with one comparing the proposal to Iraq’s “annexation” of Kuwait.

Meanwhile, a ballot measure concerning the former San Fernando police station was failing to win a majority. City Council members had backed Proposition O, which would allow the council to lease the station building without further voter approval. The Police Department moved to a new building two years ago.

The council asked voters to repeal part of a successful 1986 measure requiring approval by the voters in a special election each time the building was leased. But opponents said residents deserved a voice in the process.

In the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which distributes water from the California Water Project to the Santa Clarita Valley, civil engineer Stephen J. McLean appeared headed for an upset victory over incumbent Charles M. Brogan for at-large seat on the water agency board.

In the contest for the Division 2 seat on the board, well-known community activist Robert Lathrop was in a tight battle with incumbent Robert J. DiPrimio, while civil engineer Michael Sellheim trailed in third place.

Mary R. Spring and H.G. (Gill) Callowhill ran unopposed and won new four-year terms on the 11-member board of directors.

Two incumbents faced unexpectedly stiff opposition in the Antelope Valley Hospital District, which encompasses the Antelope Valley and extends as far south as Saugus.

Challenger Anne Brouillette was leading all candidates, according to early returns. Brouillette, a registered nurse, raised more than $8,000 while other candidates filed forms indicating they would not raise more than $1,000.

Challenger Steve Fox was also leading incumbents Clyde Kelly and Michael Schafer in the race for the five-member board that runs Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster. Kelly was elected to the board in 1962 and Schafer in 1978.

Incumbents faced no opposition in elections for the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency Board. Frank Donato was reelected to a second term and Andy Rutledge to his first term after being appointed to a vacancy.

One race in northern Los Angeles County did not appear on the countywide ballot. Voters in Green Valley, a mountain community of 1,200 residents, approved creation of an advisory town council to represent the community in dealings with the county.

The winners in a field of nine candidates were Terry Koldhusdal, Jean Nelson, Richard Bultman, Philip Brazier and Jerry Lee Strealy.