PUC to Hold Hearing on Water for Project

Bowing to complaints from Ventura County officials and environmental groups, the state Public Utilities Commission has agreed to hold a hearing on whether sufficient water supplies are available to serve the massive Newhall Ranch housing development.

County officials and environmentalists, including the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, contend that water supplies in the Santa Clarita Basin are inadequate to meet the needs of the 22,000-home suburb planned along the Santa Clara River in Los Angeles County, just east of the Ventura County line.

Rather than contest the need for the hearing, Valencia Water Co., the wholly owned subsidiary of the developer of Newhall Ranch, accepted the commission’s order, vowing to prove that there is a surplus water supply in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The PUC hearing is set for late May in Los Angeles.

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long hailed the commission’s ruling, calling it proof that available water in the basin has not been adequately assessed.

But Los Angeles County officials who supported the project said the developer had satisfied all environmental requirements, including those related to water supplies for the massive development.

Dave Vannatta, the planning deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said the water availability issue “probably was the most discussed aspect of the Newhall project” before the county approved the development last year.

After extensive fact finding, the county concluded that there is sufficient water to meet the project’s needs, Vannatta said.

“There are adequate supplies for this project as well as for the rest of Santa Clarita Valley, taking into account future growth,” Vannatta said.

The water issue is arising now because “people have an agenda and they want to stop the project,” Vannatta said. “Some of the opponents are throwing up water as a means of stymieing the project.”

Complaints filed with the state agency are just one front in the battle being waged to halt the Newhall development, which is projected to be home to nearly 70,000 people.

Ventura County has filed suit against Newhall Land & Farming Co., the project developer, and Los Angeles County for approving the project. Ventura County contends that the environmental impact report for the development was flawed, that adequate water sources were not identified, and that the 11,963-acre development site near Magic Mountain was subdivided illegally. The case will be heard next month in Kern County.

Ventura County is concerned that pumping by Valencia Water will affect the county’s ground-water supply and damage agriculture in the Santa Clara River Valley.

Valencia provides water to a number of existing housing developments in the Santa Clarita Valley. Its plans for other developments, including the Newhall project, are the issue in the commission’s hearing.

Valencia’s president, Robert DiPrimio, said his company did not contest the need for the hearing because he expects that the commission will find that the company can tap sufficient supplies of water for expansion in its service area. “We’ve got plenty of water,” he said.

But Ventura County and the Sierra Club contend that Valencia is depending on water sources that other water companies and agencies use, and that there is simply not enough water to go around.

“There are several straws in the same glass,” said Assistant Ventura County Counsel Antonette Cordero.

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land & Farming, insisted that the May hearing would not affect the project. The hearing is on Valencia Water’s water management plan, she said, not Newhall Ranch’s water needs.

Moreover, water availability for Newhall Ranch is not an issue, Lauffer said. “Newhall Ranch already has, through its environmental impact report, determined its sources of water,” she said.

PUC spokeswoman Kyle DeVine said a proposed ruling on the water issue by an administrative law judge will go before the entire commission by the end of the year. A final decision will be issued shortly thereafter.

Times staff writer Caitlin Liu contributed to this story.