The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment and Friends of the Santa Clara River filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday regarding the approved plan to provide water to the Newhall Ranch development set to break ground in 2018.
The local environmental organizations released the following joint statement Friday:
While a majority of County Supervisors seemed convinced that putting electric car plugs in new housing and solar stoves in Africa will solve California’s greenhouse problems, we are not.
While the [Newhall Ranch] developer claims that making 10 percent of these units “affordable” in this remote urban sprawl area of Northern Los Angeles County will somehow solve the affordable housing problem in Los Angeles, we say housing with little or no viable public transportation in outlying areas will not solve the problem. More auto oriented sprawl only makes air pollution and traffic worse. Not to mention siting housing and school immediately adjacent to a recently expanded mega dump.
But that is not the only issue surrounding the approval of these two tracts that will build over prime farmland and straightjacket Los Angeles County’s last free-flowing river, the Santa Clara.
It’s not just the loss of groundwater recharge areas buried under seven million cubic yards of fill in the flood plain and wetlands, the loss of magnificent thriving natural habitat that serves as home to several threatened and endangered species.
It’s the water supply.
After six years of drought that caused the Santa Clara River alluvium to drop as much as 80 feet and caused several wells to go dry, the need to re-evaluate water supply was obvious. But the County refused to look at this new information.
But that’s not all. Recently disclosed documents seem to show that the water agency made sweetheart deals with Valencia Water Co.(formerly owned by the developer) and Newhall/Lennar/FivePoint, promising to always say that there will be an adequate supply for their properties in preference to other users in the region. These documents call into question the veracity of the water reporting for the Newhall projects.
It’s in our communities’ best interest that we ask the Court to take a closer look.
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33 Comments
Yea!!!
Just a year ago there wasn’t enough water to allow myself a lawn….but we will have PLENTY of water for all these developments!! ?
Thank God someone is challenging these previous determinations.
Exactly!!!! Ironic eh???
more like “despicable”
Nailed it
Yep. What a bunch of greedy SOBs
Yikes. Home prices will go higher! Goodie, goodie.
Just looking at that map gets me angry.
Same.
Me too.
Excellent! Water is a huge issue but they bring up many more good reasons this development should not be built. What is wrong with the county supervisors? It’s call bribes and sweet deals! Shame on them. I hope they prevail in court.
Good!
These developers need to leave Santa Clarita!!! All they want is $$$$.. building new homes over $600-$800 for 1700sq feet. Stop building.
Greed, plain & simple?
Between this, and the developments planned for the area of the Hwy 138 and 5 interchange (a big new city right there), and the area around Lebec around the “lake” there, means not only more water issues but a serious increase in traffic as well. We already are going to have a lot more truck traffic passing through SCV with the building that has begun of the inland port at the bottom of the Grapevine at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. No one seems to be taking into consideration all of these projects together and the combined outcome.
Don’t forget the impact the doubling of Chiquita Canyon dump will cause by adding more truck traffic in and out of our valley ??
I usually don’t “leave” home much. This past two weeks I have had to “leave” home several times and not during rush hour. The traffic was horrendous not only on the I 5 but also on The Old Road. Thank you LA County, City of Santa Clarita, and State of California for the mess and before those homes are built and we loose any kind of water supply, move out here! Live out here! Then you may understand why we don’t want any more development! Since 1986, this has become a mini-San Fernando Valley and we moved here to get away from that! CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GOVERNMENT FOR NOT LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE, BUT YOU LISTENED TO THE MONEY
Yeah! The greed reached the county supervisors when they OKed The DUMP EXPANSION for another 30 years. Whos gonna buy 3/4 million dollar houses right across the road from a stinky polluting toxic spewing landfill? County planners are also boneheads!
This is the most historical part of the valley, where the original adobe ranch house of Rancho San Francisco was and the last stand of the White Oak, North America’s tallest oak.
I know! How dare they build homes in SCV. I’m sure none of the above people posting live in a home built or entitled by Newhall. It is ridiculous that a developer wants to build and make money. Just like I’m sure none of the people posting drive to a job to make money. Because that causes traffic and is greedy. SMH
The traffic is getting worse in Santa Clarita . Why must we build more houses when we have traffic congestion? . 10 years ago this city hardly had any traffic problems .
Because those in power only care about $$$$$$$ they could careless what happens to SCV
It is all about greed. This must stop. How can they build next to a dump? We are not over the drought. It will take years to replace all the want we had. How can there be enough for all these new houses and people? Thank heavens we have these groups fighting for us and our rights.
It looks to me like they don’t want anyone to have water, just like the confused Guv Brown, who sells our water to one of our enemies, and cuts it off from farms for fish. No one can tell me that we humans are not the only “endangered species”.
Yes, thank heavens they filed. But these are small local groups. Hope people will make donations to help them fund these challenges.
We are out of water and they want to build more homes
We need someone to investigate what money traded hands during the approval phase of this development. Either those who approved this monster are boneheads or crooks. Included in the investigation should be any consultants who supplied land use reports and were paid by the developers.
As I recall, there are around 20,000 homes proposed for this development. That means somewhere around 60,000 people and 30,000 cars. Look close at the photo of the development and you’ll see three roads in and out of this place. It is going to create an absolute traffic nightmare. Who wrote the recommendations and who approved the traffic plan?????
Developers listen!!! Stop building homes that’s taking up forever to get to after work. Instead, build a Mega Entertainment Complex that has Dave & Busters, AMC 30 with IMAX fun center with rides (like the Circus Circus Adventure Dome) and night life dancing oh and a King Taco and Portos. Then after you can continue building.
Everything you listed is just over the next hill . We don’t need it out here.
It was Supervisor Barger that approved this project. The other supervisors just let her do what she wanted in her area, except Kuelh who didn’t vote for it over concerns about water supply.
Im getting tired of this. This community could be the leader of future urban development and an example of how its supposed to be done. Say what you want, but America needs more communities like this. Even with the new green and sophisticated improvements, the ignorance among these environmental groups is still at large. I understand the problem with traffic, but that problem is already being undertaken with currently ongoing improvements.
Tatremy – haven’t seen you comment before. Are you part of the expensive FivePoint PR team that is paid to promote this project?