The Santa Clarita City Council will consider authorizing the purchase Tuesday of 54 more acres of raw land near the planned Cemex sand and gravel mine in in Soledad Canyon, for preservation as open space.

The city owns the Cemex property but can’t stop the mine from going forward without an act of Congress – literally. Since purchasing the Cemex property several years ago when the city was fighting the federally and county-approved mining project in court, the city has purchased much additional acreage in the vicinity. Among the city, the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority (Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy), Santa Clara Watershed Recreation Conservancy Agency and the county of Los Angeles, 2,500 acres in Soledad Canyon area already in public ownership.

The latest planned addition involves the so-called Williams property, which consists of two parcels that abut existing protected open space and the Pacific Crest Trial. A city staff report says the parcels, which will cost the city $178,582, will “increase trail access opportunities in Soledad Canyon and expand the greenbelt and protected wildlife corridor in this conservation area.”

The bulk of the money would come from the city’s Open Space Preservation District; $17,500 would come from a developer fee account.

Sign Ordinance Amendment

In other news, the City Council will consider an amendment to the sign ordinance allowing persons who illegally place noncommercial signs in the public right-of-way to retrieve their signs from the city without paying the fine. The city would hold them for 45 days before throwing them away.

Pacific Pipeline Franchise

The council will also consider renewing its franchise agreement with Pacific Pipeline LLC for six miles of gas lines that run under the city rights-of-way. The council approved an original 10-year franchise in 1999; it expired in 2009 and the company was been making annual franchise fee payments until Dec. 31, 2012.

Absent a franchise, the city could order Pacific Pipeline to stop using the gas lines and even remove them, but the city’s attorneys aren’t sure it the city could actually compel the Pacific Pipeline to do it. Besides, Pacific Pipeline is a public utility and could conceivably use eminent domain to continue using the lines.

The new deal calls for an up-front payment to the city of $15,000 and annual payments of roughly $12,000.

The two purple parcels are the ones under discussion. Click map to enlarge.