Study Finds Water Ample for Huge Tract

A court-ordered study released Thursday found that there is ample water to meet the needs of the 21,600-home Newhall Ranch, the largest housing development ever approved in Los Angeles County, which is opposed by Ventura County and environmentalists.

The eight-month study commissioned by the developer found that the project would have little or no effect on wildlife corridors and would have an insignificant impact on traffic in Ventura County--all key issues used nearly a year ago to block progress on the 12,000-acre project in the Santa Clarita Valley, near Magic Mountain just east of the Ventura County line.

The study was ordered in a June 2000 ruling by Kern County Superior Court Judge Roger D. Randall after Ventura County and environmental groups filed suit, temporarily blocking the development. The order required Newhall Land & Farming Co. to prove it could obtain enough water from the State Water Project and an underground aquifer for the projected 60,000 new residents.

The study included reviews of traffic effects in Ventura County, based on a Ventura Countywide Traffic Model, which was not available when the final environmental impact report was completed. Under the model, the study says, Newhall Ranch would create less than a 1% traffic increase on arterial highways, an amount deemed insignificant under state guidelines.

Opponents, however, said the study was flawed. Ron Bottorff, chairman of Friends of the Santa Clara River, said the project could damage endangered species and other wildlife because of possible increased river speeds and the hardening of the banks.