A Debate About Values

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on March 24 will conduct a public hearing for the Newhall Ranch development proposal. This follows a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Regional Planning Commission at its Dec. 17, 1997, meeting.

This unique proposal for a planned community in the Santa Clarita Valley is the first of its kind to be presented to the Board of Supervisors.

Unlike every other city or unincorporated community in Los Angeles County whose beginnings predate our planning processes, this proposal gives the surrounding communities and the Board of Supervisors the opportunity to focus on what type and amount of development might be approved and what might be most appropriate for the area, as well as to preserve the most sensitive portions of the site for noninvasive uses. In many ways, it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, much like the process used in the creation of the city of Irvine.

A development of this size can have serious impacts, both to the property involved as well as to the surrounding areas, and those impacts must be identified and assessed.

California law requires an environmental impact report to address the impacts of the proposal on the environment and public services systems, as well as to identify alternatives to the proposal. This information will be available for public review and comment.

The property involved in this request is largely undeveloped, but it has been used for a variety of purposes, including agriculture, grazing and filming.

Topographically it ranges from river bottom lands in the Santa Clara River, to relatively level plateaus, to the rugged back country areas of the Santa Susana Mountains. The bulk of the proposed development would be on the plateau areas, with both the riparian and back country areas to be left in their natural state.

I have met with both the applicant and some of the opponents to discuss their concerns and have indicated that my recommendations to the board will be based upon the suitability of the proposal, coupled with the degree to which it responds to the environmental and social needs of the county.

Los Angeles County has a Development Monitoring System in place that requires new developments in outlying areas to provide for all of the needed public services at the time the new homes are occupied.

I have advised these parties that whatever might be approved would be conditioned upon the applicant ensuring that all of the required public services would either be in place or would be funded by the applicant, as required by the county’s Development Monitoring System.