If you live in the North Copperhill area of the Santa Clarita Valley, the City of Santa Clarita would like to welcome you as its newest residents.

The annexation of the North Copperhill area (including Copper Hill Park, David March Park and Pacific Crest Park), effective today, adds more than 9,500 new residents to the city, bringing the total population to 203,000.

Residents will now have greater access to local services, including our local Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, the ability to vote in local elections and communicate with city staff about complaints, and enjoy lower costs for Parks and Recreation programs.

Gail Ortiz, City Communications Manager said that residents can expect to see changes immediately.

“Once an area comes into the city, we go through and we assess all of the services that we would be providing out there,” she said. “For example, we’ll be looking at street signs, pot holes if there are any, any road needs, crosswalks, stop signs, beautification efforts, improvements to parks, anything that’s in the public right-of-way that we’re in charge of… Right away, within the first month, we’ll be out there doing improvements.”

According to Associate Planner Patrick Leclair, the decision to annex is often resident-driven.

“If an area outside the city limits wants to be annexed into the city, they generally will demonstrate some level of interest from their community to the city,” he said. “We’ll go out and conduct surveys of the areas and if we have majority support for annexation in those areas, then we’ll begin the process of annexation, which includes public hearings before the city council to submit applications to the Local Agency Formation Commission.”

He noted that the annexation of the North Copperhill area is the culmination of a process started in 2009.

Ortiz also thought that the annexation was a good governance effort on the part of the City.

“We believe that providing service to people who are adjacent to the city is important,” she said. “And if you notice the geographic makeup of the city, we really have this natural boundary around the city that is a buffer, that is uninhabited. What you’ve had over the years, because of the way the city was created, literally one side of the street could be a city resident and the other side could be a non-city resident. From a governance perspective, it’s a little bit difficult. For the effort of providing service, (the annexation) works out well.”

For more information about annexations, contact the Planning Division at (661) 255-4330 or visit Santa-Clarita.com.