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Antonovich May Urge Approval of Newhall Ranch

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

After years of planning and debate, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich will tell his fellow board members today that he favors allowing most of the controversial Newhall Ranch project to be built as planned, aides said Monday.

Antonovich may ask the board to approve the massive development in concept, provided that several changes he will request are incorporated in the final plan, a top aide said.

Antonovich’s support is crucial to the project--the largest in Los Angeles County history--because he represents northern Los Angeles County, where it would be located.

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Details of Antonovich’s statement were still being worked out Monday afternoon, but it will leave intact most of the Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s plan for the project, Antonovich aides said.

“We’ve always said that we weren’t going to deny the project,” said Dave Vannatta, the supervisor’s planning deputy. “The question is, what are we going to approve? We’ve been sitting down the last couple of weeks and taking a look at all the chief issues and going through them one by one.”

Newhall Land is seeking approval for a city-sized development with more than 70,000 inhabitants along the Santa Clara River in a 19-square-mile area west of the Golden State Freeway between Valencia and the Ventura County line. Plans for the project, which would be built over 30 years, call for more than 24,000 homes, schools, and a water reclamation plant.

Newhall Land has said the planned community would be ideally suited to absorb much of the region’s projected growth, but opponents say the developer has failed to adequately address issues ranging from river protection and open space management to traffic and recreation.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission gave the project unanimous approval, but that decision has been appealed by Ventura County and the cities of Santa Clarita, Santa Paula and Moorpark. The Sierra Club and the local environmental group Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE) have also opposed the current development plan.

Ventura County officials--who submitted a lengthy letter to their Los Angeles counterparts July 14 threatening to sue if their concerns were not addressed--said they may make a last-minute plea before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today.

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“Our letter clearly said, we’re on the path of litigation here,” said Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long. “I’m waiting to see if they scale down. If they throw some crumbs at us, we’re going to take some steps here.”

Long said she also is prepared to go the political route and solicit intervention by Gov. Pete Wilson regarding Ventura County’s main concern: the lack of a water source for the instant city.

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Ventura County officials are concerned that Newhall Ranch will drain the ground water along the Santa Clara River just upstream, drying up aquifers in Ventura County that farmers rely on to sustain crops.

“What we in Southern California are doing is a piecemeal approach to water,” Long said. “If they [Newhall Land] pull down enough from our aquifers, it could be disastrous. They are playing a shell game with the water issue.”

Unlike Ventura County with its threat to sue, Santa Clarita city officials have said they preferred negotiations. In May, the City Council drew up a list of 14 main concerns about the development and presented it to the Board of Supervisors.

Councilwoman Laurene Weste said the supervisors have been responsive to the city’s concerns but that she felt it was still too early for Antonovich to make a recommendation to the board.

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“[Tuesday] could be Los Angeles county’s finest hour or its worst hour depending on what the supervisors decide,” Weste said. “This is a complex issue and I’d like to see the discussion process continue for a while. I believe that we have more work to do.”

Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer said company executives were also eager to learn the details of Antonovich’s recommendation.

“There has been tremendous attention paid to the details of Newhall Ranch. This project went through a year and a half of lengthy hearings before the Planning Commission approved it,” Lauffer said. “We are anxious to hear what input the Board of Supervisors will have.”

Among the key issues still to be resolved are questions about water delivery, whether the board will allow Newhall Land to build the number of homes it is asking for, how increased traffic flow will be handled and who will manage 6,000 acres of open space to be included in the project.

Newhall Land’s plan to transfer the open space to a private Sacramento-based nonprofit organization has angered many who believe the land should be placed under public ownership.

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Santa Clarita City Councilman Frank Ferry said the city won’t know if its concerns have been adequately addressed until it sees Antonovich’s recommendation today.

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“I’m confident that with the importance of this issue the Board of Supervisors are not just going to rubber-stamp it,” Ferry said. “I think you’re going to see Supervisor Antonovich say that the project is too large and it should be scaled back a bit.”

But Antonovich spokesman Cam Currier, while acknowledging he was unfamiliar with specifics of the recommendation, said the project would probably be presented to the board in close to its current form.

“I don’t think they are going to ask them to scale it down much,” Currier said. “It will still be a huge project. As far as what the final motion will be, I really can’t say.”

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Times staff writers Sharon Bernstein and Miguel Bustillo contributed to this story.

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