Long-Delayed Westridge Project Gains Ground

After six years of haggling between planners, builders and environmentalists, a hillside development of just more than 1,700 homes won approval from the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission.

The commission’s 4-to-1 vote Monday sets the stage for the Newhall Land and Farming Co.’s Westridge development to come before the county Board of Supervisors in March for final approval.

Westridge is expected to cause more contentious debate, as local environmentalists vowed Tuesday to continue to fight the project. The developer, on the other hand, said the company has worked six years to assure the project goes beyond required environmental standards.

Chief among the issues will be a six-lane extension of The Old Road, which would dissect Westridge and pass through a county-designated significant ecological area (SEA), marked by valley oaks and savanna grasses.

Westridge is planned as a 798-acre project in an unincorporated area west of the Golden State Freeway between McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard. It would include single-family residences, apartments, townhomes and a professional-quality golf course, Newhall Land spokeswoman Carol Maglione said.

Originally proposed and approved by the planning commission and the Board of Supervisors in 1992, Westridge had been stalled for most of the decade by a lawsuit filed by the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, or SCOPE.

In 1993, a Superior Court judge ruled that the county had followed policy with regard to protecting the environment, but halted the project because air quality, school and library issues had not been adequately addressed.

Maglione said Newhall Land has used the six-year time lag to obtain approval from the South Coast Air Quality Management District and has signed agreements with the local school and library districts.

The developer also redesigned the project with 178 fewer houses and less development in the SEA than originally planned, Maglione said. And, as of the planning commission’s approval, The Old Road will slightly meander through Westridge and have native vegetation planted around it so it resembles a scenic route.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working with county staff to ensure that the development that does occur within the SEA is sensitive to the environment around it,” Maglione said.

While members of SCOPE said the project has been improved since its introduction, they said they still plan to fight what they call an environmentally hazardous project.

“I don’t think people realize the commissioners OKd basically another six-lane highway,” SCOPE official Lynne Plambeck said.

The road will add to air pollution, traffic and noise pollution, while the rest of the project destroys a good portion of the natural environment, Plambeck charged.