Residents Debate 2 Routes for Highway : Santa Clarita: Critics fear noise and loss of wildlife habitat when the connecting road is constructed.

A public hearing Wednesday night on a plan to build an eight-lane expressway through Santa Clarita drew about 50 residents, most of whom said they feared the project would create too much traffic noise and damage wildlife habitat.

The hearing in the Santa Clarita City Council chambers was the last in a series of public meetings organized by the California Department of Transportation to help choose a route for the proposed road connecting the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways.

An advisory committee that includes local representatives has agreed that the route should run parallel to the Santa Clara River for most of its length. But the group did not decide whether it should run north of the river, or to the south just east of Bouquet Canyon Road.

Both choices have undesirable side effects, eliminating 39 to 54 acres of wetlands and preventing construction of 78 to 138 planned houses. The northern route would also eliminate 46 existing homes, while the southern would eliminate none. Either route could damage the habitat of several rare species, including two fish--the unarmored threespine stickleback and the Santa Ana sucker.

Most of the criticism about noise came from residents of the Friendly Valley and Rainbow Glen communities, which are located near one of the alternative corridors.

Scott Bruckner, a member of the Rainbow Glen Homeowners Assn., said he is worried that the noise generated by the expressway traffic will lower his property values. He urged Caltrans officials to choose the northern route, which would not affect his neighborhood.

“What you are going to do if you go with the southern route is bring all that noise to us,” he said.

Robert Silverstein, a resident of Friendly Valley, said he also urges that Caltrans choose the northern route because it would have a smaller noise impact on his community.

But Paul Travers, a parish administrator at St. Clare Catholic Church in Canyon Country, urged that Caltrans choose the southern route because, he said, the northern choice would run next to the church and create noise that would be “a tremendous detriment to St. Clare Church.”

Michael Kotch, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, said he is concerned the project would displace wetlands without replacing the sensitive wildlife habitat.

Caltrans officials said the state is required by federal law to design a project that will have a minimal effect on wetlands and to replace any lost wetlands with comparable land nearby.

Some time next month, the advisory committee will meet again to recommend one of the routes to the California Transportation Commission, which will make the final decision on the matter. After the route is chosen and the right of way purchased, Caltrans officials will begin the search for funds to pay for the project, said Caltrans Project Studies Chief Wallace Rothbart.

Construction of the project, which is expected to cost between $283 million and $307 million, is not expected to begin until after the year 2000, Rothbart said.