Supervisors OK Plans for 2,545-Unit Development

Despite years of opposition from environmentalists, Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a 2,545-unit housing development on the banks of San Francisquito Canyon Creek.

The action grants the Valencia Co. permission to grade a 966-acre canyon area into neighborhoods for houses, condominiums, apartments and a shopping center, linked by paseo walkways and including a 15-acre park and sites for elementary and middle schools.

The West Creek project was approved just days after an administrative law judge in San Francisco called for further studies to determine whether the water company owned by the area’s major landowner, Newhall Land & Farming Co., the parent of Valencia Co., can adequately meet the needs of all the new development cropping up on the hillsides north of the Valencia Town Center.

The West Creek development adjoins another major project, Tesoro del Valle, where giant earth graders are lined up to begin carving out lots for 1,109 homes. The 489-acre parcel for that project was purchased this month for nearly $21 million by SunCal Cos. of Orange.

The draft decision pending before the state Public Utilities Commission could delay some construction projects in the area for six months to a year while environmental studies are conducted, according to Robert DiPrimio, president of Valencia Water Co.

The draft ruling, however, scheduled for review and possible adoption by the PUC on Oct. 19, will not delay grading for future projects, said Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for the Valencia Co. She said the implications of the ruling are “still undergoing analysis.”

Environmentalists argued before supervisors Tuesday that the ruling and other recent court actions are challenging the ability of developers to meet the future water needs of all the new homes under construction or planned in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Lynne Plambeck, a Newhall County Water District board member and outspoken critic of sprawling new development, said after the hearing that she is frustrated by the supervisors’ action. “We’ve been telling them that there is a problem here. The reason this is incredibly poor planning is that there is not a realistic water supply at all.”

A Superior Court judge in June ordered Newhall Land to conduct a comprehensive study of water availability for its 22,000-home Newhall Ranch development at Castaic Junction, the largest residential project in Los Angeles County history. Results of that study could be used to answer the PUC questions, wrote Administrative Law Judge Bertram Patrick.

Construction in San Francisquito Canyon has become intense since completion of major new roads to the once remote region, now reached via extensions of McBean Parkway and construction of Copper Hill Drive, which spans the creek. A second bridge, vehemently fought by environmentalists because of its expected adverse effects on endangered species, is to be built at Decoro Drive.

Much of the area has been zoned for agricultural use, allowing homes to be built on minimum five-acre lots. The General Plan amendment for the West Creek development permits a density of up to 27 units an acre. More than half of the site--558 acres--is to be open space.

Plans call for construction of 1,248 single family homes, 968 condominiums, 329 apartments, 180,000 square feet of commercial floor area, private recreation facilities and a multiuse trail along the banks of the creek.