City Seeks Grant but Has No Matching Funds

The city of Santa Clarita, which recently applied for $78.2 million in federal funds for highway and road improvements, currently has no plan for raising its share of the construction costs, a city official said Thursday.

The city has applied for some of the $150 billion available under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, declaring it would use the money to improve several interchanges and roads near the Golden State Freeway.

If it wins the grant, the city is currently without the money to pay the $26 million in matching funds that the federal measure requires, according to Tony Nisich, city engineer.

City officials say that they really aren’t worried about the problem because the chances of receiving all the money they asked for are slim. The city has not received any federal transportation grants in the last three years, said city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz.

“We asked for the moon, so maybe we can pull down a star,” Ortiz said. “We’ll be happy to get a fraction of what we asked for and whatever we get we will come up with the [matching] money through grants and developer fees.”

Last month, U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) applied for the federal money on Santa Clarita’s behalf, for improvements to interchanges along the Golden State Freeway at Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia Boulevard and California 126.

The city also asked for funding to expand Magic Mountain Parkway to six lanes between the Golden State Freeway and McBean Parkway and to build a six-lane extension of Newhall Ranch Road from the Golden State freeway to Bouquet Canyon Road.

The city estimates that the project, which includes the building of a transit and administration facility, would cost about $105 million and is asking the federal government to pay $78 million.

Most of the $26 million shortfall would have to be paid by local developers in taxes and fees, Nisich said, adding that some of the money would come from bridge and thoroughfare districts.

There are no such districts now in the area of the proposed construction sites, but Nisich and Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for the Newhall Land & Farming Co., said that a district that would cover that area is being formed and Newhall Land, which is planning several developments there, will be the sole contributor to it.

“As we go to get approval for projects, we will be [required] by the city or the county to pay for road improvements,” Lauffer said.

“We will continue to pay whatever is required, with or without the federal funding of these projects.”