Stevenson Ranch Developer Sues Santa Clarita : Litigation: The builder wants the city’s General Plan voided, contending that copies were not provided within the time specified by state law.

The builders of the giant Stevenson Ranch housing project have sued Santa Clarita, claiming that the city’s newly adopted blueprint for development is invalid.

The suit, filed late Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by Dale Poe Development Corp., is the latest episode in an ongoing battle between the firm and the city over development-related issues.

The suit seeks to overturn the city’s state-mandated General Plan, which was adopted July 25. The developer alleges that the General Plan is invalid because the city failed to make copies of it available within two days of adoption, as required by state law.

The final version of the plan was distributed to libraries and the public earlier this month. Draft versions were available within about three weeks of its adoption.

The existing plan covers much of the Santa Clarita Valley outside the city limits, including the 750-unit Stevenson Ranch housing project just west of the Golden State Freeway. Under state law, a city may include territory next to its borders in its development plan, although it has no control over what is built there.

Santa Clarita City Atty. Carl K. Newton said Thursday that failing to provide copies of the two-inch-thick plan in a timely fashion is not a legal basis for invalidating it. Mayor Carl Boyer also said the suit was baseless.

“It’s totally ridiculous,” Boyer said. “I have my own problems with the General Plan not being released as rapidly as we would have liked . . . but this makes no sense.”

Jeff Stevenson, vice president of Dale Poe Development and a plaintiff in the suit, said his attorneys will probably ask the court for more time to file additional claims about the inadequacy of the plan. He said that under state law, the company had to sue within 120 days of the plan’s adoption. The attorneys have not had time to thoroughly review the plan because copies were not available until recently, he said.

Earlier this month, city planners said Stevenson threatened in a private meeting to sue Santa Clarita if the city continued trying to include the area in its sphere of influence.

A sphere of influence designates unincorporated county land eligible for annexation by the city and gives a municipality political standing to present its views to county authorities in debates over development.

Dale Poe Development has permission from Los Angeles County to build about 4,000 more housing units in Stevenson Ranch and plans to seek approval for another 4,000.

The suit is the latest dispute between the city and the developer. The two first clashed in 1989 when the developer successfully foiled Santa Clarita’s first attempt to include the tract in its sphere of influence. Santa Clarita sued the developer to get more money for road improvements. The developer settled out of court earlier this year for $675,000.