After its summer hiatus, the Santa Clarita Planning Commission returns to the dais Tuesday to discuss the annexation of the Tesoro del Valle community.
Commissioners will look at the city’s proposed general plan amendment and prezone that supports the annexation of Tesoro del Valle, an area located on the city’s northern boundary, north of Copper Hill Drive, west of San Francisquito Canyon Road and east of the West Hills community.
The approximate 1,786-acre site is currently located in an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, but that could become part of Santa Clarita should the City Council approve the annexation.
To get there, the Planning Commission would have to recommend approval of the general plan amendment and prezone request to council members, then a public hearing before the City Council would have to take place for all five members to consider the commissioners’ recommendation.
If the proposal is approved by the council, the process would continue with a request for approval and a public hearing at the Local Agency Formation Commission, the countywide agency that oversees local government boundaries. If a majority of the proposed annexation’s property owners protest the proposal, then LAFCO terminates the proceedings, and if there is no majority opposition, then the commission calls an election on the question of incorporation.
The city’s request to prezone the area stems from continued interest from Tesoro del Valle property owners to annex the neighborhood, which they indicated in a May survey. Of the 1,133 who were surveyed, about 17% responded and of those, 86% said they were in favor and 8% indicated opposition.
The plan would apply city land use designations to the project area that are consistent with the existing and future entitled development, according to a city staff report.
“The project does not include any development and would not change the physical characteristics of the annexation area,” the report added.
The proposed area consists of 1,786 acres, of which 422 developed acres have 1,077 housing units, an elementary school, private recreational amenities and the more than 2-acre Tesoro Adobe Historic Park that the county operates. An additional 820 units have been entitled by the county, which includes 455 conventional single-family units and 365 “age-qualified” dwelling units, according to the report.
The city emphasized that “no development is proposed or will be approved as part of the general plan amendment and prezone, nor would the city’s land use and zoning designations change the development potential for the annexation area beyond what has already been approved by Los Angeles County.”
The proposed land use and zoning designations consist of both urban and non-urban residential, open space and public/institutional.
