Despite some misgivings about traffic circulation, Castaic Area Town Council members have thrown their support behind the Tapia Ranch development project.
At least 405 homes are scheduled to be built for the project, to be located on Tapia Canyon Road at Castaic Road. It includes eight open space lots, one water tank, one water pump station, a park, nine lots earmarked for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and one private street.
On Aug. 16, the project developer — DACA/Castaic LLC — held an informational meeting at the Castaic Sports Complex to launch the environmental impact review process for the homes.
Town Council Vice President Bonnie Nikolai, who attended, said the meeting presentation explained the project in a straightforward manner with little opposition from the crowd.
At the Aug. 15 Castaic Town Council meeting, Jon Myhre, speaking on behalf of the developer, said the environmental impact review process was beginning, and the project is on schedule to break ground in 2021, assuming it obtains county approval.
The Tapia Ranch project site is a total of 1,200 acres with about 900 acres to be preserved as undisturbed open space, Myhre said.
He had last come to the council in 2014 seeking endorsement of the Tapia Ranch project, but the county delayed approving the project because the plans had not demonstrated access to adequate water during a drought at the time.
The proposal calls for Tapia Ranch and the Tesoro del Valle community to be connected by a gated roadway that would only be used for emergency access.
Once SCV Water confirmed there is sufficient water available to serve the project, the town council’s only concern was that the Tesoro del Valle Homeowners Association was gating off a part of the secondary access that would isolate northern Castaic in case of natural disasters and freeway closures, said Jessica Chambers, the Castaic Area Town Council president.
“The concern we had with the roadway isn’t something we can fight,” she said. “Tesoro wants the access to be emergency-only, so it will stay an emergency road.”
“In 2014, we supported the project, too. We were hoping they could find a way to make that access road public for the residents, but they couldn’t,” she said. “We were in support of it whether it became public or not.”
SCV Water officials pledged July 18 to provide 489 acre-feet of water per year for 405 Tapia Ranch homes between Castaic and Tesoro del Valle.
The Castaic Area Town Council, which is an advisory panel to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, meets 6:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the Castaic Union School District office, located at 28131 Livingston Ave.
