Santa Clarita to Poll Communities Again on Joining Its Sphere

The Santa Clarita City Council remains determined to extend its influence over communities in the northern Santa Clarita Valley and will conduct another survey to measure residents’ opinions of the idea.

To give the city time to conduct the survey, the council voted 4 to 0 Tuesday to ask the Local Agency Formation Commission to postpone a Nov. 13 public hearing on the city’s request to establish a 160-square-mile sphere of influence. The sphere defines the area of unincorporated county territory eligible for annexation by the city.

City officials had earlier promised to delete from the proposal any community where residents were overwhelmingly opposed to inclusion. To find out what residents thought of the idea, the city mailed questionnaires to 4,000 residents of Castaic, Val Verde, Hasley Canyon and the Backer Road area, all in the region that would be included.

Although a majority of respondents opposed inclusion, the council Tuesday rejected the results, saying too few responses were received. Only 693 people--about 17%--returned the questionnaire. Of those, 393 opposed inclusion in the city’s sphere, 236 supported the idea and 64 had no opinion.

The city now intends to conduct a telephone survey, which was described as a more reliable way to gauge public opinion than by mail.

Critics, however, said Wednesday that the council rejected the first survey simply because it did not like the results.

“They lied to us,” said Jeff Preach, president of the Castaic Chamber of Commerce and a leading opponent of including Castaic in the sphere. “They say being in the sphere will give us a voice in government, but we’ve voiced our opinion and they’re not listening.”

But Larry Bobo, director of UCLA’s survey research program, said in an interview that mail-in surveys like the city’s are “terrible” and “the results are not to be trusted” because they do not represent a random sample of the population.

The debate over the sphere of influence can be difficult for residents to fathom, city officials said. Although the designation does not give a municipality control over the land, it does give the city political standing to present its views to county authorities in debates over development and other activities in the area.

The council has said that it wants the northern valley included in the sphere because decisions made there greatly affect the city. Councilwoman Jan Heidt said Tuesday that residents may be frightened by the term “sphere of influence” because it has colonial connotations.

“Maybe we should call it the sphere of cheer,” Heidt said.

But Mayor Carl Boyer, who abstained from voting on the issue, said the council runs the risk of alienating residents of the northern valley communities by pressing them to be included in the sphere.

“It seems to me we set up some rules, and now we’re losing,” judging by the first survey results, Boyer said. “So now we’re trying to change the rules. I don’t know about you, but I stopped playing that way when I was 9 years old.”

City officials said Wednesday that they have up to $20,000 available for the telephone survey, although it may cost less. The first survey cost about $5,500.

The Stevenson Ranch housing tract will also be included in the survey. The 750-unit tract is located on the city’s western border and is included in the city’s proposed sphere. The council did not include the area in the first survey because the homeowners association there opposes inclusion in the sphere.

But three of the five seats on the association’s board are occupied by employees of Dale Poe Development Corp., which has county approval to build about 4,000 more housing units there. This week, some Stevenson Ranch residents have said they are undecided about being in the sphere, despite the position taken by the association. City officials were scheduled to meet with residents Wednesday night to discuss the issue.