Dispute Holds Up Reclamation Plant Contract : Santa Clarita: The delay reflects a struggle between a county sanitation agency and city leaders Jill Klajic and Jan Heidt, who are expected to back the plan eventually.

Two Santa Clarita City Council members concerned about growth have refused to award a $20.8-million contract for the expansion of a local water-reclamation plant until after a public hearing they demanded is held Wednesday.

The delay in approval of the contract is the latest episode in a power struggle between the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County and Santa Clarita Mayor Jill Klajic and council member Jan Heidt, both of whom serve on two sanitation district boards that encompass the entire Santa Clarita Valley. The other board member is County Supervisor Deane Dana.

In June, Klajic and Heidt failed in an attempt to get the city to take over the two districts, which indirectly control growth in the valley by regulating the number of new sewer hookups. Developers and business leaders opposed the takeover, attacking the city’s ability to efficiently manage the districts.

“They said we’re already in charge of the board, and so now we’re taking charge of it,” Heidt said Monday.

But the skirmish is a largely symbolic victory for the city because both Heidt and Klajic said they plan to approve the contract after the public hearing. The Valencia Water Reclamation Plant is already at capacity and the other City Council members will not support them in an effort to permanently block the project, they said.

Both said they hope the incident will prompt sanitation officials to provide them with more background information on projects and to hold more meetings in Santa Clarita, instead of at the agency’s headquarters in Whittier.

However, a sanitation official who asked not to be identified said the delay was simply an exercise in saber-rattling intended to avenge the failure of the takeover bid, which lost 3 to 2 in the City Council.

“It’s a power play to make us jump through a few more hoops,” the source said.

The sanitation boards were scheduled earlier this month to award the multimillion-dollar contract for expansion of the Valencia Water Reclamation Plant in the 28000 block of the Old Road to the lowest bidder, Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

The expansion project was approved by the County Board of Supervisors five years ago, before Santa Clarita was incorporated. It will provide reclaimed--not drinkable--water for about 25,000 future residents of the Santa Clarita Valley, said David Bruns, an engineer with the sanitation districts.

According to an agency report, the primary beneficiaries will be Newhall Land & Farming Co., which plans to use the reclaimed water in a proposed 1,868-unit housing project and golf course known as Westridge, and Six Flags Magic Mountain, which will use it for landscape irrigation and existing ponds and lakes.

The cost of the expansion will be borne by new residents and business owners, who will pay increased sewer-hookup fees. The fees increased 15% last year to help cover the cost of the expansion and now range from $1,870 for a single-family house to $13,700 for a restaurant, said Greg Delaney, an engineer for the districts.

On July 8, instead of taking the routine step of awarding the contract, Klajic and Heidt demanded that a public hearing be held locally.

The hearing was then scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Santa Clarita City Hall, 23920 Valencia Blvd.