Planners to Focus on Roads, Project

Proposed changes in major roadways through the Santa Clarita Valley and plans for the largest housing development in the city’s six-year history will be two key issues brought before the Planning Commission at a public hearing tonight.

In discussions at the 7 p.m. hearing, commissioners will be asked to authorize new studies of the city’s master plan of streets and highways and also discuss major roadways planned for the Porta Bella housing project. Both issues are expected to have a significant impact on the future of the city, said Kevin Michel, a city senior planner.

Revisions in the city’s circulation element could lead to significant amendments to the General Plan, adopted in June, 1991. Discussion of major roadways was dropped more than a year ago when various groups were unable to agree on a route for a major east-west corridor through the valley, linking Canyon Country with Valencia.

Revisions to the master roadway plan also are expected to affect the proposed Porta Bella project, to be built in the center of the city on a 996-acre site south of Soledad Canyon Road and east of San Fernando Road, next to Santa Clarita’s proposed civic center.

Residents adjoining the Porta Bella project said they will demand that the city order developers to build a series of roadways connecting the site with major thoroughfares before construction can begin on any of the planned 3,238 homes.

“We have seen too many times where developers promise to build roads and bridges and then they never come about,” said Carl Kanowsky, a spokesman for homeowners in the Circle J development near the Porta Bella site.

Kanowsky said residents are demanding four major roads be built through the Porta Bella project, providing direct access for the expected 10,000 residents to San Fernando Road, Soledad Canyon Road and the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The project, proposed by Northholme Partners of Canoga Park, calls for 1,678 single-family homes and 1,560 multiple-family homes on almost 400 acres of the site, plus areas for commercial and light industrial uses. More than 430 acres would be preserved for open space and recreational use, including a prominent ridge.

The hearing on the Porta Bella project is the fourth in a series that is expected to continue into February before recommendations are presented to the City Council.

The commission meets in the council chambers at City Hall, 23920 W. Valencia Blvd.