Group Launches Drive to Slow Development

Slow-growth activists in Santa Clarita launched a campaign Wednesday for an initiative which would allow only 475 new housing units in the city each year.

Under the initiative, the city Planning Commission would evaluate proposed residential developments on a point system. Building permits would go only to projects that had the highest marks for preserving the environment or providing public services such as schools, roads and parks.

The Citizen’s Assn. for a Responsible Residential Initiative on Growth, or CARRING, made public the initiative during a brief news conference at Rio Vista Elementary School, below rugged hills where a developer had planned to build a 1,425-unit condominium project.

Although the City Council rejected the project after angry citizen protests, slow-growth activists organized CARRING, pledging to put a stop to such large projects.

Councilwoman Jill Klajic, elected to the council in April on a slow-growth platform, said she would ask the City Council to place the measure on the ballot. Mayor Jo Anne Darcy and Councilman Carl Boyer III have expressed reservations about such an initiative, saying it could limit the City Council’s planning options.