Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Lawsuit Filed Against Valencia Marketplace : Development: Citizen groups object to the size and environmental impact of the planned shopping center.

Three local citizen groups have slapped the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors with a lawsuit for approving construction of an 830,000-square-foot shopping center west of the city.

The Valencia Marketplace, if built, would be the largest shopping center in the Santa Clarita Valley. As developed by the Brentwood-based Riley/Pearlman/Mitchell Co., it would include large discount stores, retail shops and restaurants.

Supervisors approved the project July 7.

The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday alleges the board failed to adhere to the county’s Development Monitoring System, which is supposed to ensure that roads, schools, law enforcement and other public services keep up with new construction in high-growth areas.

Bill Mitchell, vice president of Riley/Pearlman/Mitchell, said he was “very disappointed” to be served by the suit, especially after having more than 40 meetings with various community groups during the planning of the project.

“We’ve been working for three years with the community,” Mitchell said. “Anyone who had concerns, we would meet with.”

If successful, the legal action would invalidate the project’s environmental impact report and suspend board approvals. The Newhall Land and Farming Co., which owns the property, and Riley/Pearlman/Mitchell are named as defendants.

Those behind the lawsuit represent environmental interests, small businesses and private citizens living near the property proposed for the shopping center.

“I don’t think the project is going to support the infrastructure, the sheriff’s services,” said Lynne Plambeck, vice president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, one of the groups that filed the suit. “We would like to see the project downsized.”

The environmentalists are specifically concerned about the center’s removal of 105 oak trees and the project’s impact on the hillsides and a creek on the property, Plambeck said.

The suit also disputes estimates that the Valencia Marketplace will generate $3 million for Los Angeles County in sales tax and property tax revenues. The groups say county officials haven’t considered the loss of tax revenue and jobs by existing small businesses when the shopping center opens.

“They never figured the loss from other businesses,” said Plambeck. “They never figured the job loss or the loss of the tax base.”

Joining SCOPE as co-plaintiffs are the Lyons Avenue Merchants Assn., representing businesses that fear competition from the center’s large discount stores, and Stevenson Ranch Residents for Responsible Development, which includes citizens living near the project site concerned about noise, traffic and air pollution.

“If I’d have known when I bought my house that this was planned, I never would have moved here,” said Andrew Peruzzi, a Stevenson Ranch resident. “I moved here to get away from that.”

The size of the center, larger than the existing Valencia Town Center, would make it an eyesore, Peruzzi said. The citizens group is pushing for a one-fourth reduction in size.

“We’re not saying don’t put this in. We’re saying put something in with some integrity,” Peruzzi said.

Riley/Pearlman/Mitchell officials have not extensively reviewed the lawsuit, but say their project already addresses the bulk of the issues that have been raised.

Construction improvements to Old Road and other nearby intersections will improve traffic conditions, and the installation of a land mass to deflect noise will also help absorb sounds generated by traffic rumbling along the Golden State Freeway, Mitchell said.