The Valley Industry Association will focus on the future of the Whittaker-Bermite “donut hole” of open space in the center of Santa Clarita at its next luncheon, set for the Valencia Country Club Tuesday, July 17 starting at 11:45 a.m.

Speakers-presenters at the “Whittaker-Bermite Santa Clarita – What’s Next?” luncheon will include
Eric Lardiere, President, Whittaker Corporation; Hassan Amini, Vice President ansd Principal Hydrogeologist,
GSI Environmental Inc.; and Jose Diaz, Senior Scientist-Project Manager and Site Mitigation and Restoration Program Director, Southern California DTSC.

The Property
Located in the center of the city of Santa Clarita lies Whittaker-Bermite, an undeveloped 996-acre site. This former munition testing and manufacturing site has contamination issues and complexity of property ownership. However, the financial responsibility for site cleanup remains with the Whittaker Corporation and its successors.

The Cleanup
The site cleanup is under the supervision of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, which predicts cleanup will be completed by the end of 2018.

The Entitlements
In May 1995, the Santa Clarita City Council approved the Porta Bella Specific Plan and accompanying Development Agreement, creating vested land use entitlements on the property. These entitlements allow for the development of 1,244 single family residential units and 1,667 multi-family residential units, as well as 96 acres of commercial and business/office park uses. The Specific Plan also envisions 407 acres of open space and 42 acres of recreational uses. According to the city’s website, the City Council will revisit the Specific Plan once cleanup is completed.

What’s next?
One objective of the city of Santa Clarita is to ensure that whatever is ultimately developed on the site is consistent with the surrounding neighborhoods and will provide employment and economic benefit to the community as a whole. Attend this luncheon to learn from those closest to the project what lies ahead for our city’s central area.

The July luncheon will also include an overview of the VIA Education Foundation, the non-profit entity that funds the VIA Connecting to Success Program, provided by Randy Moberg, COO of LBW Insurance & Financial Services. The program has provided workforce readiness skills to students from the Hart District for the last 16 years. This fall, the program will reach more than 2500 high school juniors.

Luncheon sponsors include UCLA Health, the City of Santa Clarita, Nola Aronson’s Advanced Audiology, Comfort Keepers In-Home Care, SOS Entertainment, LBW Insurance-Financial Services, Point of View Communications and The Signal.

Special drawing prizes for July will be courtesy of Bank of Santa Clarita, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Mission Valley Bank, Point of View Communications, Marston’s Restaurant and VIA.

Admission to the July luncheon is by reservation only. Payments must be made on or before luncheon date.
The fee is $50 for VIA members and $65 for non-members who RSVP no later than Thursday, July 12 to the VIA office at 661-294-8088 or online.

An aerial view of the Whittaker-Bermite site looking west in April 2008. Photo: Stephen K. Peeples.