[KHTS] – California High Speed Rail Authority officials are planning to meet with Santa Clarita Valley, Palmdale, Acton and Agua Dulce leaders, officials said.

“These meetings are with representatives of various communities along the proposed alignments in the Palmdale to Burbank Project Section,” said Adeline Yee, information officer with the California High Speed Rail Authority. “The goal is to engage in an in-depth discussion and get constructive feedback in a small group setting.”

While the public is invited to attend the event, only a small group of speakers have been asked to provide Santa Clarita community input at the event.

“They are in addition to the large public meetings that we’ve hosted in the past year, and will continue to host this coming year,” Yee said.

The next meeting is set to be held Tuesday, March 3 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Santa Clarita Activities Center.

Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce and City Council members, along with other Santa Clarita Valley leaders, have been invited to provide input, Yee said.

“I’m very happy to have the stakeholder meeting out here in order to reiterate the fact we want them to continue to study the direct route from Burbank Airport to Palmdale which is under the forest — a tunnel under the forest,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Marsha McLean. “We want a route to completely bypass Santa Clarita and would be the least environmentally harmful to us and to resident, churches and schools.”

McLean and Santa Clarita City Councilman TimBen Boydston, who are both members of the city’s Ad-Hoc High Speed Transportation sub-committee, are planning to attend the meeting.

“We know that it is not a secret that the City Council, as a whole, is opposed to any alignment that goes through the Santa Clarita Valley,” Boydston said. “We’re planning another organizational meeting to get the various cities municipalities and areas together so we can have our voice heard cohesively.”

The California High Speed Rail Authority is responsible for planning, designing, building and operation of the proposed High Speed Rail Project supported by Governor Brown, planned to run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin, according to a news release.

The proposed system eventually would extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations.

For more information regarding the California High Speed Rail Authority, [click here].