Report Notes No Negative Ranch Impact

Newhall Ranch, the proposed housing development that would be the largest in county history, would not significantly increase traffic or increase the threat of floods and would be no more prone to earthquakes than any other area in the region, according to a Los Angeles County Planning Department report released Thursday on the proposed development.

But opponents of the planned community in the Santa Clarita Valley near Magic Mountain complained that despite several public hearings before the county Regional Planning Commission during the past five months, the report is virtually identical to the development’s environmental impact report, which was completed last year.

“I think it’s a big zero,” Lynn Plambeck said. “They just go around the issues without actually addressing them.”

Lee Stark, the county official charged with overseeing the project, said there was little new information in the report because planning commissioners heard little compelling new information during the public comment period.

“The reason there are so few significant changes is that the [public] testimony for the most part was repetitious,” Stark said. “The bottom line is that they just don’t want anything built there.”

With Newhall Ranch, the Newhall Land & Farming Co. is seeking to build the largest master-planned housing development in county history. Over a 25-year period, Newhall Ranch would house 70,000 people in about 25,000 apartments, townhomes, condominiums and luxury homes between the Golden State Freeway and the Ventura County line.

Opponents have denounced the project, saying it would wreak havoc on local traffic, the environment and water supplies. Further, they claim the area has some of the earth’s heaviest earthquake activity.

Newhall Land has maintained the development is safe and a necessity since population projections predict the county will need 26,000 new homes by 2010.

Marlee Lauffer, a spokeswoman for Newhall Land, said company officials had not finished reading the 25-page report by late Thursday.

Among the report’s conclusions:

* Construction of a frontage road in Val Verde, requested by some local residents along California 126, would require cutting away hills but would not help traffic circulation.

* Newhall Land will probably reach agreement with local schools soon. School districts have been demanding additional funds to offset the increased student enrollments the development is expected to generate.

* The development does not need to show there will be an adequate water supply for residents until after the project is approved.

Also, the report stated that several other controversial issues--including further studies on earthquake fault zones--would be decided later and placed in the project’s final environmental impact report once it is approved.

Portions of the project are also subject to approval by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and various state and federal agencies.