Last week, the Los Angeles Superior Court accepted the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment’s petition filed against the approval of the Trails at Lyons Canyon Ranch for review.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission approved the 510-home project in July, followed by an appeal from SCOPE in August.

SCOPE has issued the following press release on the lawsuit:

“SCOPE appealed this project to the Board of Supervisors in August in an effort to address fire and habitat concerns. This 510-unit project in the natural area next to Towsley Canyon Park is in a county-designated Significant Ecological area.

It will destroy around 300 protected trees, approximately 260 oaks of which 18 are heritage oaks and it will underground several streams. It will also place future residents in a Very High Severity Fire Hazard Zone with inadequate evacuation and high to unobtainable insurance rates.

We continue to believe that giving density bonuses to this developer for placing seniors in this dangerous area is just bad planning.

The county approved the project on Sept. 23. SCOPE was only allowed two minutes to discuss the reasons for our appeal. At the hearing, Supervisor Barger read a pre-written motion to approve before hearing the remaining public speakers. After being reminded that the public had not yet spoken, she stopped to hear public comment, but afterwards continued reading the same motion. There was no discussion among board members in spite of the ongoing issues from the recent January fires affecting Los Angeles County.

We appealed this project to the Supervisors in the hopes that:

1. A fire station would be required as it was in the original 2008 project approval.

2. The Old Road would be widened at least to the Calgrove exit to ensure timely fire evacuation.

3. A back up energy storage would be required for the four-story senior apartments to ensure seniors would have lights and a functioning elevator in a multi-day public safety energy shutoff.

4. Better protection for the Significant Ecological Area, oak trees and mountain lion habitat.

We regret that none of the above issues were addressed.

Road widening will occur merely in front of the project, money will be donated to the Fire Department for equipment with no indication of where that equipment will go, no back up energy source beyond the legally required 90 minutes was identified for the four-story senior building in case of a Public Safety Shut Off or loss of electricity from a wildfire.

We continue to have strong concerns for seniors trying to evacuate from the upper floors,possibly without lights or a functioning elevator.”

Lynne Plambeck, President of SCOPE, made the following statement:

“The One Valley One Vision 2012 General Plan update promised a green belt around the city of Santa Clarita and supported infill projects. Placing high density housing next to the Towsley Canyon Open Space contradicts this vision and places seniors in a dangerous fire area. We can and must do a better job of planning for our seniors. They need safe housing as well as affordable housing.”

For more information about SCOPE visit https://scope.org.

Photos of evacuation routes blocked by Sage Fire, 2016. Courtesy SCOPE.

Map of site for housing projects just north of Towsley Canyon in Lyon Canyon.