Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Town Face-Lift : Consultants Ready to Suggest Theme to Fix Up Newhall Main Street

If consultants get their way, a downtrodden section of Newhall will be done over in a motif that could be called California Eclectic.

The San Francisco-based firm of Freedman, Tung and Bottomley--hired by the city of Santa Clarita to come up with a way of revamping Newhall--will formally recommend Tuesday that the five-block area take on an Old West/Victorian/Spanish Colonial look.

“It’s a California combination, if you know what I’m saying,” said Terence Bottomley, a principal of the firm, in discussing a report to be presented to the City Council, Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Department at a special meeting.

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Bottomley, who said his firm’s findings were based on a study of the neighborhood and suggestions from several hundred residents citywide, discussed the report’s general points in an interview Friday.

The most sweeping changes suggested by the report involve the look of the area.

Some Santa Clarita residents suggested an Old West theme because they felt it would best match the area’s history of gold mining and Western movie making, Bottomley said. Others wanted Victorian architecture because they thought it would be good for business. The Latino community, which makes up virtually all of the neighborhood’s population, also wanted its heritage honored.

The final recommendation has something for each of these groups, but will disappoint residents who were adamant about implementing a single theme.

“Our sense is, well, the history of Santa Clarita is a little more varied than that,” Bottomley said. “We thought it would be better to mix a variety of different architectural styles.”

He added that mixed themes exist in older downtown areas such as Carmel, Monterey and San Francisco.

In addition to the mixed motif, the report suggests that several measures be taken to attract new businesses to the area. These measures include low rents and favorable loan rates for retail establishments; wider sidewalks; improved landscaping, and the establishment of a center for day workers.

“The day laborers on the street corners are an image problem,” Bottomley said. “What we’re suggesting is the city build a day labor center very close to downtown.”

Bottomley said the city should focus on attracting unique businesses instead of chain stores.

“You find those local shops when it’s Friday night and you don’t want to take another turn down at the mall,” he said. “You want to go somewhere real.”

Bottomley also said his firm will suggest that the main thoroughfare through the area, San Fernando Road, be made one way to ease traffic problems and create more parking spaces.

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Judging from interviews with city officials and local merchants, the part of the report likely to be controversial deals with the several auto repair shops now in the area.

Bottomley said they can’t be easily remodeled to fit into the suggested new look. “They can’t take advantage of [redevelopment] the way the rest of the businesses can,” he said.

The report suggests relocating them.

“What you do is come up with some type of inducement for them to move,” he said. “One of the best things to do is set aside land north or south of downtown, so they are still in the same area, and put together some type of auto center.”

Auto shop owners will probably not go willingly.

“I’d fight it big time,” said Tony Inderbitzin, owner of Carstar, a body shop at one of the street’s busiest intersections. “I’m dead-set on staying right here.”

Mary Williams, co-owner of Lyons Auto Repair, said she would expect a sizable settlement if forced to move. “They would have to pay for the relocation,” she said. “They’re talking big bucks.”

Santa Clarita Mayor Jo Anne Darcy said she disagrees with the notion of displacing auto repair shops and believes their exteriors can be “jazzed up” to blend in with the new motif.

In further comments on the plan, Darcy said she agrees that a diverse, new look for the neighborhood could help revitalize it. But, she said, the city does not have the funds to revamp buildings, attract businesses and repair streets all at the same time.

“We want to do something initially with the fronts of the buildings,” she said. “That’s what you see first.”

If the City Council approves the recommendations, design consultants will begin working with city officials to draft specifics. These could be submitted for approval within a few months, said Donald Duckworth, the city’s redevelopment director.

But Duckworth predicts the changes will first have to be made in the report, and these could take several months to complete.

“I don’t think we’re there quite yet,” he said.

Some merchants in the area expressed doubts that the city would ever be “quite” there.

“They’ve been talking about [revitalization] for years,” said Charlotte Gillin, who has owned the Newhall Photo Center in the neighborhood for 14 years. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”