Residents of the Calgrove/Wiley Canyon area have announced the appeal of the Wiley Canyon Mixed Use project to the Santa Clarita City Council for further review. The appeal was filed with the city of Santa Clarita’s clerk’s office on Sept. 30, within the 15-day appeal period.

The city of Santa Clarita Planning Commission approved the Wiley Canyon Mixed-Use Project during its meeting held on Sept. 16.

In a press release issued by Annette Lucas, representing Calgrove Corridor Neighbors and others, residents of the area have listed the following areas of concern as a basis for the appeal:

“Neighbors of the old Smiser Mule Ranch property have been working for decades to ensure that development of the property would be suited for the area and conform to the Genral Plan. They opposed a 10-story hotel there in 2007 and then helped re-write and update the general plan to make sure future development would conform with the neighborhood, that local roads would be able to manage the traffic and that adequate infrasture was available for fire and sheriff services, as well as schools.

The development consists of 232 townhome and/or detached condominium units, at two stories in height. It includes a senior/assisted living facility with 120 units, at four stories in height. The commercial component would be 9,000 square feet.

Fire

The project is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The community is especially concerned that no fire station will be built in this project. The closest station is No.124, in Stevenson Ranch, approximately 3 miles away with a response time that could exceed the required 8 minutes to some homes in the area and in a heavy traffic situation This station is already serving the existing 21,000 people in Stevenson Ranch. A major wildfire in 2016 (the Sage Fire) previously affected this area.

Last month the death toll in the horrendous Eaton and Palisades fires rose to 31. Many of these deaths were seniors that could not get out. A report released yesterday at the Board of Supervisors (the Fire Department is a County Agency), found several communication problems that added to the evacuation problems. We are concerned that two locked gets that require fire department or city personnel to open, may present similar problems in a fast moving-wind driven wildfire.

General Plan Consistency

The General Plan designates a 4-lane road in this area, but the city did not require widening.

Air Quality

The air quality analysis in the DEIR uses data from SCAQMD stations in Van Nuys, Downtown Los Angeles and in Newhall to east of Railroad Avenue. Site concentrations of pollutants, particularly PM 10/2.5, are undoubtedly higher at the project site than those at the SCAQMD stations used for modeling due to the site being located next to one of the greatest line sources of air pollution in the state, the I-5 freeway. The townhomes and the senior/assisted-living facility are all within the 500-foot setback from the I-5 Freeway. This violates the residential planning standards of both the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). This project would expose both the elderly and children to high levels of pollution of undefined severity and represents a significant public health and safety impact.

Violation of the Santa Clarita Municipal Codes

The city granted a minor use permit and conditional use permit to allow a lower amount of commercial floor space in the multiuse zoning so that a four-story building could be included. This is now a pattern and practice by the city of regularly granting such waivers so that projects do not have to meet the multi-use commercial requirements. This enables the developer to build four-story buildings that impact the viewshed and create added traffic without meeting the City Code requirements for a multi-use project. We all support walkable communities, but apparently our planning department does not.

The Calgrove and Wiley Neighborhoods hope to work with the city to address these issues before the project is approved.”

Below; Freeway traffic at Calgrove and fire at Calgrove during Sage fire, 2016. Courtesy Annette Lucas.