SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : Business Park Gets OK From City : Development: The project on a 117-acre site is proposed to include nearly 1 million square feet of buildings, but preserve a wildlife corridor.

A business park project, hailed by environmentalists as a model that other developers could follow in protecting natural resources, has received its last required approvals from the city.

The City Council voted unanimously and without comment Tuesday to adopt a pre-zone of the Valley Gateway project by Hondo Oil & Gas Co. A pre-zone is the city’s determination what a tract would be zoned if it were in the city limits. The city’s action allows the developer to go ahead with plans to create nearly 1 million square feet of business park and corporate office space while removing about a fifth of the 1,114 oak trees on the property.

The 117-acre office project maintains a wildlife corridor about 500 feet wide. About half the project will be designated as natural open space and dedicated for public use. Also, the Beale’s Cut stagecoach pass, which last year was declared a state historic landmark, will remain protected open space.

“They were extremely sensitive to environmental concerns,” said Marsha McLean, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Canyons Preservation Committee. “From the beginning, they kept everyone informed about the project. They asked for advice, and the amazing thing is that they took it.”

The project, which will use existing graded areas on the site of a oil refinery, will be built in an area scarred by concrete, steel and asphalt reminders of the once-profitable industry.

The site, which is bordered by Sierra Highway and the Antelope Valley Freeway just south of the city limits, contains a regional wildlife migratory corridor connecting the San Gabriel Mountains with the Santa Susana Mountains, which in turn provides a link to the Santa Monica Mountains.

The city’s actions Tuesday night gave a pre-zone to part of the project that lies outside the city limits, paving the way for the site to be annexed into the city.