Poll to Help Decide Future Santa Clarita Limits

Residents of Val Verde and Castaic will be asked this fall whether they want to be included in the city of Santa Clarita’s sphere of influence, a necessary step before Santa Clarita could annex the areas.

Some Castaic residents have already expressed opposition to the idea, particularly business leaders wary of a proposed Santa Clarita growth-control measure.

In an effort to gauge public opinion, the city of Santa Clarita in October will mail questionnaires on the issue to 3,200 households in Val Verde and Castaic, located on unincorporated county land just north of Santa Clarita.

If the majority of residents answering the survey prefer to remain independent, then Val Verde and Castaic will be removed from a proposal to extend the city’s influence over a 160-square-mile area of the Santa Clarita Valley, said Don Williams, a Santa Clarita senior planner. The proposal was approved Tuesday at a City Council meeting and will be submitted to the Local Agency Formation Commission next month.

Williams said it is a common misconception that once the city gains a sphere of influence, it will automatically try to annex all the land in the valley. In fact, if residents within the sphere oppose annexation, “we are not going to drag them in kicking and screaming,” he said.

The reason the city wants to extend its sphere is to gain a stronger voice in planning decisions made by Los Angeles County that affect local schools and roads, Williams said. The county has to notify the city of impending development projects that fall within the zone.

But Castaic business leaders remained skeptical Wednesday of the city’s motives, pointing out that when Santa Clarita was incorporated 3 1/2 years ago, the founders sought to include Castaic within its boundaries.

“We stopped the deal last time, and now they’re coming at us again,” said Jeff Preach, a real estate broker and president of the Castaic Chamber of Commerce. “Right now, the city is in an uproar about the growth cap, and that’s not a good business atmosphere for Castaic.”

The chamber polled residents on the issue in 1989, the first time the city asked LAFCO for a sphere of influence. Only 132 residents out of the 773 who responded supported inclusion in the city’s sphere, Preach said.

LAFCO ended up refusing to grant Santa Clarita any sphere of influence at all until the city completed its state-mandated General Plan. The plan was adopted earlier this summer.

Some Castaic residents said annexation by the city would benefit their community.

“With home rule, you get more representation,” said Michael Kotch, a Castaic resident and president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, known as SCOPE. “It’d be a lot easier to drive a few miles to Santa Clarita for a meeting than to go all the way downtown and spend $14 to park.”