Massive Project’s 2nd Phase Wins Tentative Approval

The Santa Clarita Valley’s largest developer received tentative approval Monday for the second phase of a 12,000-unit, master-planned community north of Valencia.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission unanimously approved a proposal by Newhall Land & Farming Co. to build 1,815 housing units and two shopping centers in the new community of North River. The Board of Supervisors is expected to give final approval in coming months to this phase, known as East Copperhill.

Newhall Land has already built about 500 of 2,000 units approved in the first phase, known as Northbridge.

Although North River would contain more than three times as many housing units as the controversial Porter Ranch project on the slopes north of Chatsworth, little opposition has surfaced. Newhall Land plans to make $30 million in road improvements, which community leaders and county planners have said will go far to relieve chronic traffic congestion in the valley.

However, some local activists have expressed concern about the proximity of the development to the San Francisquito creek bed, which bisects the North River area and is designated by the county as a Significant Ecological Area. The phase approved Monday includes a 20-acre park, part of which lies between the creek bed and the housing development.

The 3,000-acre North River area is roughly bounded by the Santa Clara River on the south, Seco Canyon Road on the east, San Francisquito Canyon Road on the north and Rye Canyon Road on the west.

The East Copperhill portion tentatively approved Monday is a 464-acre parcel that sprawls east and west of McBean Parkway. It would contain 800 single-family houses, 1,015 condominiums and apartments, two parks, an elementary school site and more than two miles of hiking trails. One of the two shopping centers would include a supermarket and drugstore, company officials said.

Newhall Land would make $12 million in road improvements for this phase, extending existing streets more than two miles. Copper Hill Drive would be extended about half a mile west, McBean Parkway would be lengthened one mile north to Copper Hill Drive, and Decoro Drive would be extended half a mile west to meet as-yet unbuilt Dickerson Drive, said Marlee Lauffer, Newhall Land’s spokeswoman.

East Copperhill was designed for “move-up buyers” who are living in an apartment or condominium and want to upgrade their housing, Lauffer said. Plans call for a mix of moderately priced condominiums to four-bedroom, single-family houses on 5,000-square-foot lots, she said.

If the supervisors approve the project, construction would begin in 1994, said Gloria Glenn, a vice president of Newhall Land.