Panel Backs New Housing Plan in Oak Savanna

Despite new policies designed to protect environmentally sensitive lands, a county panel recommended approval Tuesday of a golf course and housing tract in a scenic oak savanna near Santa Clarita.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission held five lengthy public hearings and twice ordered the project redesigned before voting 3 to 2 to approve an 18-hole golf course and 1,868 housing units on about 800 acres west of the Golden State Freeway.

Nine holes of the golf course and 189 housing units would be built in a 310-acre portion of the property identified 12 years ago as one of the county’s Significant Ecological Areas--or SEAs.

“Phew!” gasped a relieved representative of Newhall Land & Farming Co. after the vote was tallied.

But opponents of the project vowed to continue their resistance when the issue comes before the County Board of Supervisors for final consideration in coming months.

Supervisors voted last summer to beef up the review of projects proposed in the ecological zones, saying development in such areas would have to be “highly compatible,” but stopping short of an outright ban.

“The question is, is the county serious about protecting the SEAs or just playing a political game?” said Chip Meyer, a member of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment.

Commissioner Richard Wulliger, Supervisor Ed Edelman’s appointee, urged the panel to uphold the policy and join him in voting against the project. “I won’t thumb my nose at the policy set by the Board of Supervisors,” he said.

Since the policy was adopted, the commission ordered Newhall Land to better protect the SEA, dubbed Valley Oaks Savanna because it contains 1,183 oak trees on rolling grasslands a few miles south of Magic Mountain. The company’s final plans call for removing 137 oak trees, 202 fewer than initially proposed, and for building 189 housing units, 147 fewer than proposed earlier.

At the request of the commission, the firm also guaranteed that the golf course would remain open to the public for at least 10 years and that public hiking trails would be built in undeveloped portions of the SEA.

The changes apparently satisfied three commissioners--Pat Russell, J. Paul Robinson and Sadie Clark--who voted in favor of the project. Russell was appointed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, Robinson by Supervisor Deane Dana and Clark by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

“We do need the housing . . . and the recreation opportunities,” said Russell after describing how her daughter was forced to move to the Antelope Valley because she could not find affordable housing in the Santa Clarita area.

“I believe strongly that a property owner has the right to use their property,” added Clark, a real estate agent.

Commissioners Wulliger and Rene Santiago, Supervisor Gloria Molina’s appointee, voted to deny the Westridge project, echoing the concerns of a county advisory panel of biologists that said the project would harm the SEA. The project was also opposed by the county planning staff and by the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

“Newhall Land & Farm is a competent outfit, but this project is in the wrong place,” Wulliger said.