County Approves Westridge Proposal in Ecological Area : Development: A compromise allows housing, shops and a golf course in an oak-dotted locale near Santa Clarita.

Los Angeles County supervisors approved the controversial Westridge Golf Course Community on Thursday, despite protests that the housing development will damage an environmentally sensitive oak savannah near Santa Clarita.

The board’s 4-0 vote followed less than half an hour of discussion and drew immediate criticism from Santa Clarita officials and other opponents of the mammoth project. Newhall Land & Farming Co. won permission to build 1,890 housing units, retail shops and an 18-hole golf course in an oak-dotted area south of Magic Mountain.

Opponents said a last-minute compromise plan forged by Supervisor Mike Antonovich didn’t do enough to address their many concerns about the project, which will be built on part of one of the county’s Significant Ecological Areas, or SEAs.

Originally, opponents complained that the project required the removal of 152 oak trees from the ecological area, and that a road, houses and part of the golf course would be built in the oak tree savannah.

On Thursday, opponents said that even though they had formally appealed the county Regional Planning Commission’s narrow approval of the project, they were given little or no time to review the compromise plan before the supervisors voted. The compromise removes houses from the “treed” portion of the SEA but does not spare other parts of the SEA from development.

“Obviously, the skids were greased,” said a visibly angry Jan Heidt, mayor pro tem of Santa Clarita. “This revised plan was submitted yesterday, and we, the appellant, had no time to respond. Was it wired? Yes, it was.”

Antonovich denied cutting any back-room deal with Newhall Land, the Santa Clarita Valley’s largest developer. He said his staff independently devised a “positive compromise” after hearing input from all sides, and that the project as approved will be both environmentally sensitive and a boon to the rapidly growing area.

Antonovich also rejected claims by project opponents that he and three colleagues--Supervisor Gloria Molina was absent--voted for the project because of Newhall Land’s political influence and contributions.

“That’s not true,” Antonovich said. “If it were, we would have approved it with greater density,” allowing Newhall to build more homes among the oaks.

Newhall and its top officials have contributed at least $86,375 to the five county supervisors in the past five years, campaign records show.

Newhall officials, who had pushed the project for six years, said they had helped hammer out the compromise by working with Antonovich’s staff and project opponents.

“It is the most environmentally sensitive project we have ever proposed,” said Newhall Chairman Thomas L. Lee. He said the housing development would create thousands of local jobs and bring millions of dollars in tax revenues to the county. Lee added that the project would provide badly needed roadway improvements in the area.

But opponents have steadfastly opposed the project despite several earlier compromise plans, saying the oak trees should not be removed, even if they are to be replaced elsewhere or relocated. “We still feel this is no way to treat a SEA,” Dorothy Riley of the Santa Clarita Oak Conservancy told the supervisors before the vote.

The county’s Regional Planning Commission held five lengthy public hearings and twice ordered the project redesigned to minimize the encroachment of the homes and golf course into the ecologically sensitive area. In February, it voted 3 to 2 to approve the project on about 800 acres west of the Golden State Freeway.

Public hearings were then held by the supervisors, who postponed one vote on the project Aug. 6 so they could solicit more input from supporters and opponents.

As approved by county planners, half of the golf course and 189 housing units were to be built in a 310-acre portion of Newhall property identified 12 years ago as ecologically significant.

Under the compromise measure approved Thursday, no housing will be built in the “treed” part of the SEA, saving dozens of oak trees and adding six open acres of savannah.

However, 175 housing units are planned for a portion of the SEA that does not have oak trees, Newhall Land officials said.

All told, 114 trees in the SEA will be affected. Forty-nine trees will be removed and transplanted elsewhere on the site. An additional 65 oaks will be chopped down and for each, three new trees will be planted.

As part of the compromise, a “small interpretive center” will be built on the site so the public can learn more about the oak trees. The golf course is required to remain open to the public for at least 10 years, and until another “championship” course is opened in the Santa Clarita Valley, Antonovich said.

FYI

Los Angeles County officials a decade ago created a network of Significant Ecological Areas to protect sensitive coastal, desert and alpine landscapes. The 61 SEAs were selected for their value as habitat and migration corridors for threatened flora and fauna. Most are privately owned, but the county’s 1980 General Plan made it official policy to protect them from incompatible development. Last year, the county strengthened that policy after environmentalists charged that SEAs were not being protected from development. Supervisors stopped short of a ban, but beefed up the review of projects proposed in SEAs, saying such developments would have to be “highly compatible.”