Santa Clarita City Councilmembers on Tuesday night voted unanimously to send a letter opposing county planners’ call for the addition of a homeless shelter to Phase II of the proposed Tesoro del Valle housing development.

Council members also called for the letter to update the county on everything the city has done and is doing in conjunction with the nonprofit Bridge to Home to address homelessness in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Bridge to Home is now moving toward opening a permanent year-around homeless shelter in February on land donated by the city at the current temporary winter shelter’s site on Drayton Street in Newhall, with additional funding from Measure H.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission last reviewed plans for the Tesoro project just outside Santa Clarita city limits on Aug. 1, and requested that developer BLC Tesoro LLC incorporate an onsite homeless shelter and present a revised plan at the commission’s next meeting on Nov. 7.

Located in county territory north of Valencia and between West Creek and San Francisquito Canyon, the 1,200-acre development would include 820 homes, associated public facilities and dedicated open space.

The project has not yet been considered by the county Board of Supervisors, but Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the county’s Fifth District including Santa Clarita, expressed her opposition to the Planning Commission’s move, as did Bridge to Home board president Peggy Edwards.

At the City Council’s Oct. 9 meeting, Edwards requested the city oppose the Tesoro shelter idea, and the Council agreed to consider a response to the county planners in its next meeting.

Prior to their discussion and vote Tuesday night, the council members heard public comments supporting a year-round shelter from Alan Ferdman, chairman of the Canyon Country Citizens’ Advisory Committee; Edwards, representing Bridge to Home, and Tim-Ben Boydston, former City Councilman and current council candidate.

Steve Petzold, a Realtor Associate at Keller-Williams Realty, urged council members to “take a neutral position” because the development was outside city jurisdiction.

In their discussion, all five council members expressed opposition to the Tesoro shelter proposal.

“We need to stand fast with Supervisor Barger, that the City Council and Bridge to Home have put together a package that will work,”  Councilmember Cameron Smyth said, touching on the “evolution” of the council’s and his own attitudes about homelessness over the last two decades and the imminent opening of Bridge to Home’s year-around facility.

“It’s the Santa Clarita way – it took time, but we are there now, and we are way ahead of some other cities,” Smyth said.

Smyth moved to draft a letter of opposition to the proposed Tesoro shelter; Mayor Pro Tem Marsha McLean seconded the motion, adding that the letter should list “everything we’re doing so they get it,” and the vote was 5-0 in favor.

Once council members approve the draft letter, it will go to the County Planning Commission prior to its Nov. 7 meeting.