Approval of Growth Guide Would Thwart Contributors

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will soon decide whether to approve a new development plan to guide growth in the Santa Clarita Valley through 2010.

The stakes are high. The General Plan, as it is formally known, would affect plans for 38,000 housing units by a host of developers who have been frequent and generous campaign contributors to board members, particularly Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

According to a search of campaign records by The Times, the 22 developers--along with their attorneys, consultants and officers--contributed at least $550,468 to the five supervisors between 1984 and this year.

Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the Santa Clarita Valley, received $298,768, according to campaign records. These figures include amounts given during Antonovich’s unsuccessful U. S. Senate campaign in 1986 and his hard-fought race for another term on the board in 1988.

Supervisor Deane Dana received $114,650 and Supervisor Pete Schabarum $89,100, the records show. Trailing were Supervisors Kenneth Hahn with $25,700 and Ed Edelman with $22,250.

Lolli Benton, administrator of Antonovich’s campaign committee, said donations do not influence planning decisions or guarantee access to the supervisor. Asked what a contributor gets for attending a $500-a-plate dinner, Benton replied: “It brings you a good time at a dinner.”

Contributions may make an elected official familiar with a donor but won’t guarantee action by that official, Benton said.

Dave Vannatta, a planning deputy to Antonovich, said the supervisor does not plan to ease restrictions in the proposed General Plan that would clamp down on growth in the Santa Clarita Valley.

As approved by the Regional Planning Commission in May, the General Plan would allow construction of 12,500 of 38,000 housing units proposed by developers surveyed by The Times. The supervisors are tentatively scheduled to consider the plan Thursday.

To be sure, many of the developers included in The Times’ survey have projects outside the Santa Clarita Valley. Many of the consultants typically work for more than one builder, so their contributions are not necessarily tied to one specific project.

But the campaign records compiled by The Times offer a glimpse of the development process and reflect developers’ intense interest in the General Plan for the Santa Clarita Valley.

Developer Dirk Gosda, who is working on a 5,100-unit project near Castaic called Northlake, said builders do not anticipate county approval of their projects in return for their donations.

“It’s a tradition,” Gosda said of campaign contributions. “I hate to say that, but if you’re a developer, it’s something you do.”

Under the proposed plan, the Northlake project would be cut by more than half. The developers seeking to build Northlake--Cook Ranch Associates and Korek Land Co.--have given the supervisors $25,405, The Times survey found.

Some builders, who asked not to be identified, said the contributions also show the concern that spread through the development community when Antonovich ran for reelection in 1988 against former supervisor and slow-growth proponent Baxter Ward.

In that year, Antonovich received $130,038 from the developers surveyed. The annual totals in other years ranged from $15,340 to $46,590, according to county records.

In addition to individual developers, a frequent Antonovich contributor has been the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, a trade association that gave $29,000 to the supervisor over the past six years.

During 1990 alone, the association and 19 contributors in The Times survey gave a combined $22,380 to Antonovich.

Most of those donations came in May, when Antonovich held one of his two yearly fund-raisers. Officers and consultants of Newhall Land & Farming Co., the Santa Clarita Valley’s largest developer, gave Antonovich $5,000 that month.