Newhall Ranch

Re the Newhall Ranch editorial, “Regional Concerns Are Foremost,” April 11.

San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) provides comprehensive legal services to the more than 350,000 poor people who reside in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. Presently, our office represents Los Angeles County residents who will be harmed if the Newhall Ranch development is permitted to proceed. With the California Rural Legal Assistance, who represent low-income residents of Ventura County, and the Public Interest Law Project, our office submitted comments to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in opposition to the Newhall Ranch project.

Consequently, we read with great interest your April 11 Newhall Ranch editorial, “Regional Concerns are Foremost.” In our view, the piece starts with the correct premise, but ultimately misses the mark. We agree that a regional perspective on development following a well thought-out plan, which carefully examines environmental, water and transportation concerns, makes sense. However, given The Times’ past editorials on the urgent need to address the affordable-housing crisis in Los Angeles, the absence of any recognition of the very serious impact the Newhall Ranch development will have on the supply of affordable housing in Los Angeles and Ventura counties is surprising, to say the least.

According to Los Angeles County’s own General Plan and Housing Element documents, which set forth the plans for meeting the housing needs of all economic sectors of the community, the county falls 13,000 units short of meeting its low- and very low-income housing needs without Newhall Ranch. If Newhall Ranch is developed as currently proposed, it will increase this need by nearly one-third, or 4,400 units. These numbers illustrate the relative meaninglessness of the developer’s proposal to build 440 new affordable-housing units as mitigation, which incidentally does not include any units for very, very low-income persons, namely many of the laborers, housecleaners and child-care providers who undoubtedly will be essential to support the residents and infrastructure of Newhall Ranch.

The lack of sufficient affordable housing in Newhall Ranch will force large numbers of low-income residents to commute long distances from areas where they can afford housing to areas where jobs are created or are emerging, resulting in increased traffic congestion and more air pollution. This jobs/housing imbalance will probably result in a significant influx of low-income residents that will overwhelm largely minority and low-income communities such as Newhall and Val Verde in the Santa Clarita area, the northeast San Fernando Valley, and the Ventura County communities of Piru, Fillmore and Santa Paula, where affordable housing for poorer residents is already scarce, substandard and overcrowded.

We hope your future editorials and discussions of the pros and cons of the Newhall Ranch project will focus not only on its significant impact on the environment, but also on the development’s effect on affordable housing needs of the poor in both Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Concerns of the entire region demand it.

NEAL S. DUDOVITZ

Executive director

and R. MONA TAWATAO

Managing attorney,

San Fernando Valley

Neighborhood Legal Services Inc.

Pacoima