Developer Agrees to Reduce Housing Project

After the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors made clear that it considered plans to build a 2,500-unit housing development in San Francisquito Canyon too large, the developer has reduced the number of units by nearly 30%.

The Tesoro del Valle development, which had been opposed by Santa Clarita and local environmental groups, will be reduced to 1,757 units, according to John Evans, co-owner of Evans-Collins Community Builders. The revised plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors at a meeting July 22.

At a supervisors meeting in May, the Newport Beach-based Evans-Collins had sought permission to build twice the number of units permitted under the county’s General Plan in the rural community north of Santa Clarita.

But Supervisor Mike Antonovich--who is usually sympathetic to developer interests--said the estimated 7,500-person community could create traffic snarls, harm already poor air quality and ruin the rustic atmosphere of the area.

Antonovich set several conditions if the developer wanted the project approved.

A new plan would have to include reduced grading to spare oak trees, larger lots to reduce density, and road improvements--paid for by the developer--to avoid traffic congestion.

“These are significant revisions,” said Antonovich at the May 27 meeting. “But the applicant is seeking a General Plan amendment, which carries a higher standard of performance.”

After the meeting, the company set to work redesigning the project according to the board’s requests. Besides cutting the number of units, Evans said, the company will grade only 17 million cubic yards of earth instead of 21 million. It will also extend Copper Hill Road, an access road to the development, to ease traffic.

“We’re hoping this will be enough,” Evans said Monday. “We’ve taken directions from the supervisors, and I don’t know how much more they can get out of us.”

Evans said that if the plan is approved by the Board of Supervisors, it will be at least a year before construction begins.