Santa Clarita OKs Status Quo, Experts Say

In a municipal election that lured less than 20% of those eligible to the polls, Santa Clarita voters opted for the status quo for their young city, according to local politicians.

Unofficial results showed Mayor Pro Tem Jo Anne Darcy, a senior field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and a charter member of the Santa Clarita City Council, as the top vote-getter, finishing with 6,942 votes, or 18.8% of the total. She was the only incumbent in the race.

Also elected were Valencia High School teacher Frank Ferry, who at 32 will be the youngest person ever on the council, and park Commissioner Laurene Weste.

Fourteen candidates were on the ballot for the three open positions. Had others won election to the council, they might have changed city policies involving future development, insiders say.

“I don’t think . . . this election is really going to change much at all,” said Councilwoman Jill Klajic, a vocal member of the council majority during the most recent term. Klajic’s seat was not up for election this year, but she supported candidate Marsha McLean, who lost.

“It’s going to be business as usual,” a disappointed Klajic said. “They just traded the two votes of the retiring councilmen for two new votes.”

Ferry, who narrowly lost in a 1996 bid for the council, finished in second place with 6,372 votes. Weste received 5,593 votes.

Many believed that had McLean--who finished fifth--won a seat, she would have formed a voting bloc with Klajic and Councilwoman Jan Heidt to put more restrictions on development in Santa Clarita. Instead, according to City Hall insiders, the ascension of Ferry and Weste means the new council makeup will most likely pursue much the same course as the one that preceded it.

“I think this was a very important election for the city,” said Ferry, whose campaign was managed in part by Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita). “If McLean was elected we would have had a swing in the vote. We would have had a no-growth city.”

Klajic contended the new councilman and his allies were beholden to the Newhall Land & Farming Co., the developer planning Newhall Ranch, a massive development that could bring as many as 70,000 residents to a 19-square-mile unincorporated area of the county, just outside the city limits. The development is now being evaluated by county supervisors.

On Wednesday, the three victorious candidates said their priorities include traffic management, crime prevention and providing positive activities for youths.

“There are a lot of young people in this community who feel that they don’t have a voice,” said Ferry, whose campaign benefited from scores of teenage volunteers, including many from Valencia High School where he teaches government. “The issue of safety is tied to making sure that our youth have things to do, particularly in their teenage years.”

“I think this result shows that the public wants us to go forward and continue doing the good things the city is doing,” Darcy said. “First of all, we have to finish those new roads. There’s no question about that.”

Weste said Santa Clarita should take advantage of its history to draw business and tourism that would provide the tax base for building new parks and improving the city’s cultural life.

“We have tremendous need for more open space all around the valley and for more sports facilities for kids,” she said. “I also think there’s a large cultural arts hole that needs to be filled. We already have the talent here, we just need to bring everyone together.”

Only 13,442 of Santa Clarita’s 72,000 registered voters went to the polls Tuesday.