Pickets at Hearing Say Newhall Project Shortchanges Schools

Angered by what they claim is a lack of concern for the children of the Santa Clarita Valley, about 30 people picketed a public hearing by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Monday to protest the massive Newhall Ranch project.

Members of Keep Kids First, a group of parents and homeowners, claim that the project’s developer, the Newhall Land & Farming Co., is unwilling to pay to “adequately equip” the schools needed to service the planned 24,000-unit project.

“All the developer wants to pay for are the school buildings,” said Lorrie Baldwin, one of the protesters.

“Schools need other things like playgrounds and books. Our children need and deserve more than what Newhall Land is willing to pay for.”

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land, said the company has been negotiating with the Hart school district for about a year and has offered to pay more than state law requires.

“Our company cares about the quality of schools for its home buyers,” Lauffer said. “But what this boils down to is a difference of opinion between what the state says is adequate and what the district wants.”

To be located on 12,000 acres near Six Flags Magic Mountain and adjacent to the Ventura County line, the Newhall Ranch project is expected to add 60,000 people to the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley over 25 years.

A development of that size is expected to bring 10,000 school-age children, from kindergarten to high school, into the area over that time span, said Robert Lee, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

On Monday, Lee told the Planning Commission meeting in downtown Los Angeles that the single junior and senior high schools the developer has agreed to pay for would not be enough to serve the huge influx of students. Negotiations between Newhall Land and the Hart district are at an impasse, Lee said.

“We truly believe that this agreement will handcuff and handicap our ability to offer students a quality education,” Lee said.

The 42-page development agreement created without any input from the school district, according to Lee, suggested that the Hart district seek state funds to help offset costs and also recommended that the district adopt year-round programs and pass school bonds to the finance the cost as well.

“It’s absurd to think taxpayers should or would pay for new development,” Lee told the Planning Commission. “New development must pay its own way.”

Lee warned that if adopted in its current form, the development agreement would cause the district to suffer a multimillion-dollar shortfall and lead to classroom overcrowding.

The motivation for Lee’s seemingly tough stance, said John Hassell, a member of the Hart district’s board of directors, is the financial burden the district took on in recent years struggling to open Valencia High and La Mesa Junior High schools in Santa Clarita.

“If we take on costs like that again it means bankruptcy for us,” Hassell said.

The Hart District was forced to borrow $4 million to fully equip those schools.

“A desk costs $125 and a classroom flag about $5,” Lee said in an interview Monday. “Then add up computers, microscopes, calculators. . . . People visit and ask why there aren’t more books in our libraries and we tell them we haven’t the money to pay for them.”

Hassell said that the Hart district is willing to sue to ensure that Newhall Land pays what he called the company’s fair share. But members of the Planning Commission said that they hope that litigation can be avoided and asked representatives from the district and Newhall Land to try to reach an agreement before that happens.

The hearing will resume at 9 a.m. Sept. 3 at the Hall of Records.