Judge Rules Tesoro Project Can Continue

Environmentalists lost a bid Monday to halt a massive grading project when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected a suit challenging the feasibility of a water supply to the 1,109-home Tesoro del Valle development north of Valencia.

The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment argued that Los Angeles County officials issued a grading permit in October without proper assurances that water will be available to the development.

SunCal Cos. of Orange had planned to service homes in the project with connections to the Valencia Water Co., but the state Public Utilities Commission ordered the company to prove it had enough water to supply more homes before it could extend services. SunCal then fell back on an earlier agreement with the Newhall County Water District, a private water company, that environmentalists say is neither feasible nor binding.

However, Judge David P. Yaffe ruled that a letter from the Newhall water company reaffirming its ability to provide water is sufficient. The developer is carving a 489-acre parcel along the west banks of San Francisquito Canyon Creek north of Copper Hill Drive.

Bill Rattazzi, a SunCal principal, said, “The judge validated our position. He said very clearly that there was no merit in any of the claims. From our perspective, it was a pretty simple case and one that should never have been brought.”

Lynne Plambeck, spokeswoman for SCOPE and a director of the Newhall water board, said conditions of issuing a grading permit are designed “to make sure the hills will still be there” should a developer run into a snag. “But the hills will be gone,” she said.