The city of Santa Clarita encourages interested and qualified residents to apply for an unscheduled vacancy position on the Santa Clarita Planning Commission. The unexpired term ends Dec. 31, 2026.

The opening is the result of the resignation of Dennis Ostrom, first appointed to the Planning Commission by Councilwoman Laurene Weste in 1998.

The Planning Commission advises the Santa Clarita City Council on matters related to development projects, property acquisition, specific plans, zoning and other planning matters. The five-member Planning Commission meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month, at 6 p.m.

Applicants must be 18 years or older and must maintain their principal residence in the city of Santa Clarita during their term of office.

Online applications are available at SantaClarita.gov/City-Clerk/Notice-of-Vacancy/.

All applicants must also submit three letters of recommendation with their application.

The deadline for submitting an application and letters of recommendation to the Santa Clarita City Clerk’s Office is 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Ostrom, an earthquake risk consultant, moved to the Santa Clarita Valley with his wife Sue and their two daughters in the late 1970s, according to his bio published on the city of Santa Clarita website.

He worked with other residents to provide a technical basis that supported resisting the location of a hazardous waste dump over the Santa Clara River in Canyon Country.

Ostrom later provided similar input in the fight to stop the Elsmere Canyon Dump. He spent 25 years with Southern California Edison as the utility’s specialist in earthquakes. During that time he earned a doctorate from the School of Engineering at UCLA.

“I moved here in the late 1970s because it was a great area to live and raise children, it continues to be that way today and my primary reason for being on the Planning Commission is to do what I can to keep it that way,” he said in his online bio.

For more information about the city of Santa Clarita’s Commissions, visit SantaClarita.gov, or contact the Santa Clarita City Clerk’s Office at (661) 255-4391.