Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Residents’ Role in Recovery Plan Praised

Watchdogs of a $1.1-billion redevelopment plan are pleased that a proposal for governing it now calls for more public involvement, but city officials are irritated at how long it is taking to launch the 30-year project.

The praise and the frustration surfaced at the Santa Clarita City Council meeting Tuesday night when the city leaders discussed the latest suggestion for overseeing Santa Clarita’s Community Recovery Plan.

As proposed, the plan would be governed by a seven-member panel much like the city’s Parks Commission. Resident committees would explore issues such as housing, schools, business retention and revitalizing specific communities. Recommendations from the advisory committees and the commission would be passed on to the City Council.

School officials, business leaders and several residents have offered conditional support for the redevelopment plan, although they say they must have “meaningful participation” in how it is administered.

They told the council Tuesday that the commission format and the resident committees are good ideas.

“This is a surprise,” said Joan MacGregor, a College of the Canyons trustee. “I’m pleased to see it. It’s exciting, and I think it’s where you should have been in the beginning.”

Said Connie Worden, a vice president of the Canyon Country Chamber of Commerce: “We appreciate the expansion of citizen involvement in all of the areas. We request even more.”

Worden, also president of a Valencia business park association, said the committees should be large enough to include any resident who wants to participate.

“The structure might be more time-consuming, but it would greatly increase” the level of public participation, she said.

Council members authorized the redevelopment plan in February to help Santa Clarita recover from the Northridge earthquake, improve its infrastructure, redevelop blighted areas and build affordable housing. Projects would be funded by additional tax revenue that would be generated when property values rise.

But the plan, which includes much of the city, has been slow to proceed. It has been encumbered by wary public opinion and blocked for several months by legal action taken by the Castaic Lake Water Agency.

Water agency officials want to collect future property tax income in the project area to pay off construction debts. The agency has charged in a lawsuit that the redevelopment plan illegally includes projects that go beyond earthquake recovery. No court date has been set.

With the earthquake now more than a year old, Santa Clarita officials are tired of more delays to the plan.

“I think we need to get down to the nitty-gritty of what we’re going to do and get beyond this point of ‘getting started,’ ” Councilman Carl Boyer said.

Frustration boiled over Tuesday night after Councilman George Pederson sought to have city employees review the commission idea and return in 30 days with options of how members would be elected, their term lengths, the roles of the citizen committees and other details.

“I think the motion is pretty noncommittal,” complained Councilwoman Jan Heidt. “It’s just one more report--I’ve got stacks of them in my office.

“Let’s get the show on the road,” she added.

Pederson defended his request for information.

“My motion was not for us to sit on our hands and wait for years,” he said.

Council members approved the motion on a 5-0 vote.