The Santa Clarita City Council is scheduled to discuss phase two of the Tesoro Del Valle project, which includes a consideration of adding a homeless shelter, at its Tuesday, Oct. 23 meeting.
As part of the original Tesoro Master Planned Development, the project is planned to be built in the unincorporated area of the Los Angeles County, north of Valencia and between West Creek and San Francisquito Canyon.
The project, as developers last presented it to the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission in August, is about 1,200 acres and includes 820 dwelling units, dedicated open space and associated public facilities.
It would have nine multi-family lots, 12 water-quality basin lots, three water-tank lots, one helipad lot, six senior-recreation area lots, 15 private parks, a senior recreation center, 29 lots reserved for open space and more than 20 private driveways.
At its last meeting Aug. 1, the county’s Regional Planning Commission did not approve the project as presented and instead requested the developer incorporate an onsite homeless shelter.
Commissioners expect a revised plan by Nov. 7.
“Although the project has not been presented to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Kathryn Barger has expressed concerns regarding the requested incorporation of an onsite homeless shelter,” the city’s agenda report read.
At a Planning Commission meeting in August, Hunt Braly, a consultant for the development applicant, said, “We are working year-round with the county, with Supervisor (Kathryn) Barger’s office and the city of Santa Clarita, to build that year-round.”
“I do not think there’s a need for two sites in the Santa Clarita Valley for those services,” Braly said. “I just wanted to make that clear to the commission.”
Braly was referring to building a year-round shelter for Bridge to Home, the nonprofit organization that manages the seasonal homeless shelter in Santa Clarita.
Bridge to Home President Peggy Edwards then brought the matter to the City Council’s attention during its Oct. 9 meeting, requesting that the council support the nonprofit in opposing the incorporation of the onsite shelter at the Tesoro Del Valle project.
She expressed that the proposed shelter would be detrimental to the future of homeless services at Bridge to Home.
The nonprofit has since identified multiple points to support its opposition, backed up by studies, according to the agenda report.
Some of those points include the identification of Bridge to Home as the best location for a homeless shelter in the SCV, its experience with homeless-related services expand to more than 20 years, and the effects of Measure H funds distribution if two shelters were in place.
The City Council is also scheduled to discuss its landscape and lighting district annexation and declare October as Domestic Violence Prevention month and Breast Cancer Awareness month.
