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Commentary by Steve Lee
| Monday, Oct 12, 2015
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steveleeA few months back, the county experts who gave permits to the immense expansion at the Commerce Center near I-5 and SR-126 attended a town meeting in Val Verde. The officials were there because the enraged residents of Val Verde had called and sent letters to the county, asking why a protected ridge was now being devastated by monster tractors.

Protected ridges can legally be destroyed as long as it is done correctly. For 10 years, the county studied the possible impact on the land from the huge development.

The map they projected for the town of Val Verde showed that the county had identified numerous landslide possibilities due to the unstable earth. The entire map was dotted with circles, some circles within circles, and some intersecting circles.

As the county explained it, they missed the possible landslide on the side of the protected ridge.

It would be hard to find any place on the map that had not already been circled.

After long studies and all of the landslides identified, the county gave the OK for the project to begin. In the process of preparing the earth for the new expansion, they scraped the base of the mountain with their goliath machinery, and the mountain gave way.

The ridge started its long demise as it slid day after day. Now, the protected ridge was a danger to have around, so the company started excavating the top of the ridge itself, far from the bottom of the ridge – a ridge they do not even own.

At the meeting, the county bragged that it gave the contracting company a huge fine-? I put a question mark only because a huge fine to a monster company is really just pennies.

It appeared to the county that the ridge had become a danger, and the county had to permit the massive company to secure the mountain by destroying it.

The ridge has been removed legally. The orange-tinted mountain is a ghost of what it used to be, and all of this is, of course, “legal.”

The Val Verde Civic Association asked the county what could be done in the future to stop such destruction. In short, the county replied: “Nothing can be done.”

Really? Nothing can be done? Why not stop giving permits to colossal expansions so close to protected ridges? Why not drop K-rails in order to stop tractors from getting too close to protected mountains?

So many things could be done. Maybe issuing building permits that mandate that all construction be at least 300 feet away from the base of protected ridges?

Dr. Faye Snyder said it best: “I am tired of the raping of my village.” The money will always find ways to get around laws, and it appears the county will always allow it.

County incompetence will always exist, be it by accident or a convenient oversight. Inept officials will always allow great destruction due to their incompetence.

When will the beauty of the Santa Clarita Valley come first? Will the county continue to be bought with fines after the fact?

It is time for the county to consider the beauty of the Santa Clarita Valley first, while it allows the Santa Clarita area rapidly to expand.

There is nothing wrong with sustainable expansion.

 

Steve Lee is a Val Verde resident.

 

Ridge as seen from Val Verde, before construction

Ridge as seen from Val Verde, before construction

The ridge now, as seen from Val Verde

The ridge now, as seen from Val Verde

Entire project as seen from the equestrian center. The mountain peak to left now has severe cracks and might also have to be leveled. Below construction on the right lies Val Verde.

Entire project as seen from the equestrian center. The mountain peak to left now has severe cracks and might also have to be leveled. Below construction on the right lies Val Verde.

 

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20 Comments

  1. Myk Halibut Myk Halibut says:

    Thankfully there is another way into town besides the backed up Chiquita canyon. The trucks track large amounts of rock and dirt into the street creating a judge mess.

  2. Abigail says:

    “When we destroy something created by man, we call it vandalism. When we destroy something created by nature, we call it progress.” by Ed Begley, Jr.,

    So true!

  3. Half way in this article seemed like a horror story. Hahahaha. “Monster machinery”. Haha

  4. Shane Weeks Shane Weeks says:

    If the dump expands it will go to just the other side of this hill. Has the developer addressed this? I don’t know of many businesses that will want to be that close to a dump.

  5. Cathy says:

    Just wait until the Newhall Ranch River project gets started. Yikes!

  6. Sandy Hughes says:

    that ridge (although sad to lose, and sadder to see gone) was going to come down. doesn’t anyone know the Newhall Lands Plan… that whole side of Chiquita is going to be light industrial and business buildings. It’s going to go all the way to about 200′ shy of that first residential street before hitting town… this mountain has been planned to come down for many years.
    Seems like no one in this little town pays attention to things until they happen, to little to late. get involved during the planning stages not the execution stages

  7. Sandy Hughes says:

    The plans (the industrial build out going up Chiquita) for it to start were well longer than a year ago, try 2007, 2008 was when the EIR came out, this is not a new project or a new plan by any means.

  8. Sandy Hughes says:

    okay, but I’m talking about the commentator’s works… they always come after the fact, I’m saying the people in that town should get involved before things that upset them happen

    • Abigail says:

      Many of us have lived here a decade or two and have been actively involved all along. Many of us bought under the pretense that some of this was closing or not happening. Lies of course, BUT then there are some people who have moved here in the past few years or so and are now getting involved as they find out about all these things. If you move some place new do you really think you are going to know about everything happening there? Would you like to be put down for reporting on what is happening just because you were not here ten years or more ago to fight it? It takes time to acclimate to an area so crawling all up on people for not having been involved earlier is a little unfair. There is a bigger picture here.

  9. William Berndt says:

    I’ve lived in this Valley since Oct. 1978. I’ve watched this Valley be destroyed one ridge at a time. Yes growth is a necessary evil, but at the gross financial gain of a few. With no thought of the present and how they will move on to a place like Santa Clarita, and enjoy their lives while destroyed our peace,of heaven.

  10. William Berndt says:

    I’ve lived in this Valley since Oct. 1978. I’ve watched this Valley be destroyed one ridge at a time. Yes growth is a necessary evil, but at the gross financial gain of a few. With no thought of the present and how they will move on to a place like Santa Clarita, and enjoy their lives while
    destroyed our peace,of heaven.

  11. Sandy Hughes says:

    you are all talking as though this has something to do with the lanfill/dump, it doesnt. This is newhall lands industrial park starting to go in, they took the dirt they were already going to remove anyway and used it to build the flyover solving 2 problems (removal and build out) at the same time, sad as it is

  12. Abigail says:

    I am sorry Sandy, but you have the wrong ridge. The ridge the commentator is talking about is closer to Hasley Canyon in that portion of the industrial center. It is deeper in Val Verde than the area you are referring to. It is not on Chiquita Canyon Road OR part of the new flyover. It was a protected ridge and the ridge you are talking about was not – yours was actually a rolling hill in a different location. Hope that helps clarify why this article is NOT about the landfill.

  13. Sandy Hughes says:

    no Abigail, I know which ridge I am talking about – but thanks.

    • Abigail says:

      Okay Sandy – thanks for clearing that up. I just spoke to the guy who wrote this and he agreed that the ridge he wrote about is NOT the ridge that they took all the dirt from to build that flyover and it is not on Chiquita Canyon Road or touching the landfill. So I am glad we both know the ridge.
      :-)

    • Abigail says:

      Additionally, this land was owned by William Hunt and not Newhall Land and is not part of Newhall Land’s industrial park at all. Totally different location. It is the ridge a Val Verde resident was airlifted from a short while back.

  14. Steven Lee says:

    Actually Abigail is right, it is the Hunts Williams property, and has nothing to do with that dirt. If you were right,that would be fantastic, it would be evidence of deliberate intent to violate a protected ridge and highly suspect.

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