Tough Hillside Law Narrowly OKd : Santa Clarita: The council vote is the latest sign of the city’s increasingly cool attitude toward developers.

After a cliffhanger debate, the Santa Clarita City Council narrowly approved a tough hillside preservation ordinance opposed by developers.

The council late Tuesday also unanimously rejected a developer’s request to exempt a 1,000-acre parcel from a slow-growth measure on the April ballot.

The votes are the latest sign of the city’s increasingly cool attitude toward developers since the growth-control proposition, Measure A, was proposed more than a year ago by a citizens group. If the proposition is approved by voters in the April 14 election, the city could approve construction of no more than 475 new housing units a year for the next 10 years.

The 3-2 vote in favor of stringent restrictions on hillside development followed an ambiguous, lengthy speech by Councilman Carl Boyer that left opponents and supporters wondering how he would vote.

“It was like an Agatha Christie novel--cliffhanger time,” said Pat Saletore, president of the Santa Clarita Civic Assn., which supported the ordinance.

In his speech, Boyer strongly criticized slow-growth proponent John Drew for threatening to sponsor a ballot measure to reduce development in the hills if the council voted against the hillside ordinance. Drew co-wrote Measure A.

But in the end, Boyer joined Mayor Jill Klajic and Councilwoman Jan Heidt in approving the ordinance, which would force developers to meet strict criteria before being permitted to build on hillsides with grades of 10% or more. The ordinance will replace less stringent Los Angeles County regulations that now apply within the city to slopes with grades of 25% or more.

Developers, who organized against the hillside ordinance immediately after city planners unveiled it in late September, immediately threatened to sue the city.

“We’re not just furious, we’re livid,” said Jeff Brown, a spokesman for a local sand and gravel company that supplies developers.

But Boyer pooh-poohed the prospect of a lawsuit, saying “any fool can sue anybody.” He said he voted for the ordinance despite some reservations about its strictness because it allows the council to exempt “quality” projects. “We’ll get better designs than what we’ve been getting” as a result of the ordinance, Boyer said.

But Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, who joined Councilman Howard (Buck) McKeon in voting against the ordinance, warned that “business will die” as a result of the new regulations.

The council was unified in its opposition to a request by the Anden Group for an exemption from Measure A. Anden is seeking to build about 3,200 residences on property east of Saugus Speedway, but if the measure passes it would prevent construction of the 700 to 800 housing units the company needs to build annually to satisfy lenders and to finance about $30 million in road improvements.

The council denied Anden’s request partly because members said they did not want to usurp voters’ rights to decide on Measure A as it was written.