Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Site of Woman’s Slaying to Be Lit : Public works: Santa Clarita authorizes the street lights. Friends and family of the victim pushed for the project.

Four months after a woman was dragged off an unlit section of Santa Clarita’s main east-west thoroughfare and strangled to death, city officials have authorized street lights for a dark stretch of the street.

Veronica Estrada, 29, was walking along Soledad Canyon Road, near Camp Plenty Road, about 8:15 p.m. Dec. 15 when she was attacked and pulled over an embankment. She was a nationally ranked black belt in tae kwon do, and a popular instructor at a Canyon Country martial arts studio.

Stuart Edward Milburn, 27, who worked with Estrada at the martial arts studio, has been charged with her death. He has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.

Since Estrada’s death, her friends and relatives have called for placing lights along the dark stretch of Soledad Canyon Road.

Deborah Luck and Theresa Estrada also successfully made the lights a campaign issue last month, securing pledges from several City Council candidates to install them.

“How many incidents have to occur along that street before we get lights?” asked Theresa Estrada, Veronica’s sister.

Their efforts culminated this week when Luck presented the City Council with a binder, wrapped in a yellow ribbon, bearing 3,500 signatures asking for lights on that portion of Soledad Canyon Road.

“Dec. 15 changed the lives of many people,” Luck said in an emotional plea to the council. “One person’s light was extinguished that night, but 3,000 other people have come together to light up Soledad Canyon Road.

“Instead of giving me 20 reasons why it can’t be done, you look at Veronica Estrada’s family, friends and neighbors and you find one damn good reason why it should be done,” Luck said.

Council members unanimously approved elevating that segment of Soledad Canyon Road from fourth to first place on the city’s priority list for street lights, apologizing that the process wasn’t completed sooner.

The council decision includes a 20% fee increase for property owners in an existing lighting district to cover the cost of the lights. The increased annual fees are $6 for houses, $24 for businesses and $48 for mobile home parks.

Santa Clarita previously had no policy for street light installation other than requiring developers to include them in new construction. Several unlit city streets have no plans for development in the near future.

Even at the top of the priority list, the unlit portion of Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country isn’t expected to have lights until the beginning of next year, according to Tony Nisich, a city engineer.

Los Angeles County administers the lighting district, which predates Santa Clarita becoming a city and covers 85% of its area. Once public hearings begin, they are expected to take three to four months to approve the fee structure, and actual construction should take about two months, Nisich said.

“Most of the time here will be spent doing the fiscal gymnastics,” Nisich said. “It’s not an engineering issue, it’s a procedural issue.”

Some 324 lights will be installed along the 4.25-mile stretch of road, at a projected cost of more than $490,000 for design and installation.