Santa Clarita Builders Protest Hillside Development Limits

Developers have organized to resist a proposed ordinance that would impose stricter limits on development of hillsides and ridgelines in Santa Clarita than in the surrounding, unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County.

The campaign against the proposal surfaced at a Santa Clarita Planning Commission meeting earlier this week. Engineers, geologists and representatives of nine developers testified against it, saying strict limits on hillside and ridgeline development would raise building costs and drastically hinder development in the city.

Developers have also written 33 letters against the proposal to city officials and have formed a committee to lobby the city on the issue, said Chris Trinkley, one of the city’s principal planners.

The ordinance, drafted at the urging of residents, would prevent developers from building houses or shopping centers atop most of the city’s prominent ridges. Builders also would have to meet strict criteria before being permitted to build on hillsides with grades of 10% or steeper.

In contrast, county regulations that now govern construction in the city apply only to certain hilly areas--those with grades of 25% or more--and do not prevent building atop ridges. Many projects that the county allowed to be built on ridgelines, including housing tracts visible from the Antelope Valley Freeway, would not have been allowed under the proposed new ordinance, Trinkley said.

Certain types of development--including parks, observatories, riding academies and public streets--would be allowed on ridgelines, and exceptions might be made for other projects if they appeared unobtrusive in computer simulations, Trinkley said.

The Building Industry Assn. of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the Santa Clarita Valley Assn. of Realtors and developers, including The Anden Group and Newhall Land & Farming Co., are among the organizations that have expressed concern about the city’s proposal.

The ordinance “would be the final death knell to what is already an impossible situation in our industry and would be a staggering blow to the economic and employment sectors of the city of Santa Clarita,” said Stan Fargeon, president of Pacific Crest Development Co., in a Sept. 30 letter to city officials.

The business community “will not stand by idly and have our lives and careers destroyed by those that perceive us as the enemy,” the letter stated.

The developers do not have a specific counterproposal in mind yet, said Marlee Lauffer, a spokeswoman for Newhall Land. But earlier this year they suggested that the restrictions apply only to hillsides with grades of 15% or more, Trinkley said. They also have expressed outrage over the proposal’s limits on densities on hilly land and will probably seek to modify them, she said.

Three of the five City Council members were out of town at a conference Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

The council expressed support for the proposal when it was unveiled late last month, before the developers began their campaign.

“There’s a lot of anger out there,” Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy said Wednesday. “This is a pretty restrictive ordinance and there’s going to have to be some give-and-take before it is finalized.”

Councilwoman Jill Klajic defended the proposal, saying, “We must be doing something good if developers are upset about it.”

The next public hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. before the Planning Commission at City Hall.