What makes a city a great place to live and to visit? Why do so many people want to live here in Santa Clarita? As we continue to grow, will it always be a great place to live?
At the root of every good city is a good plan. If you want to wreck a place, just ignore a good plan, throw out checks and balances, and allow developer interests to be the only thing that dictates your decisions.
You wreck a good place one bad project at a time, and the Santa Clarita City Council is the last one who can stop a bad project.
A five-story apartment building with 5,200 square feet of commercial space is being proposed in the block next to the Canyon Theatre Guild. This is a bad development by Serrano Development Co.
It violates the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan by going to five stories, almost twice the allowed height. The only time this large of a project is allowed (Chapter 4, page 83) is when the project is a “full block” development. An example of a “full block” development is Newhall Crossings, two blocks away, also built by Serrano. When I sat on the City Council, I reviewed that project and was told by the Planning Department, very clearly, that was the only time you could go to that height was when you developed the entire block.
The developer is calling the proposed project a full-block development but it is only HALF of a block. The plan clearly defines a FULL block: “the aggregate of private lots, passages, common drives and lanes, circumscribed by thoroughfares” (Chapter 4, page 121). The definition of circumscribed: “draw (a figure) around another, touching it at points but not cutting it” (OxfordLanguages). The project must have streets on all sides to be a “full block” project.
Unfortunately, for our “hometown radio station,” KHTS, the block will be cut in half right next to their studios. The noise from the construction will negatively impact their ability to broadcast. The developer and the city do not seem to care that our longtime radio station business will be destroyed.
As everyone knows, parking is essential for businesses to survive. Ironically, several of the supporters of the project cite the new parking being built with this development as an advantage. What the developer is not telling everyone is that those spaces will not be available for anyone outside of this project. Also, the developer is not even building enough spaces for the apartment tenants and their guests. The 78 apartments are required by code to have two spaces each, with a half-space each for visitors, which equals 195 spaces. In addition, if the commercial space were to be filled with restaurants or bars, it would need 52 spaces to accommodate those uses. This project will use as many 247 spaces. With only 122 spaces built, that means 125 cars from the project could be parking on the streets and lots of Newhall.
The developer has paid for a parking study, which states that Santa Clarita’s code is wrong and they won’t need as many parking spaces for their tenants. Unfortunately, parking study consultants are a little like expert witnesses in court. You pay them to say whatever you need them to say. Anyone who has ever lived in an apartment building or condominium that has less than two spaces per unit, and less spaces for guests, knows that this “study” is not correct.
Some city officials are saying that their “hands are tied” because state law Assembly Bill 2097 says that zero parking spaces are required for residential or commercial space that is built this close to a Metrolink station. What they don’t say is that this law applies “unless there is a negative impact on residential and commercial parking within one-half mile of the project site.”
Everyone who has a business or residence within a half-mile of this proposed project knows absolutely that there will be a negative impact. The City Council needs to help the existing businesses, non-profit organizations and residents who will be hurt by this project.
Another historical landmark will be destroyed to make room for this project. The historical Newhall Courthouse, which is on the Santa Clarita Historical Register, will be demolished without proper due process. As reported by The Signal newspaper, Councilwoman Laurene Weste secretly negotiated a $750,000 payout to the city in exchange for permission to demolish this landmark.
If the City Council would like to take this action, they need to have a historical appraisal of the property, by a certified historical appraiser, to determine its value and what it would cost to move this structure. Only after proper consideration in front of the public, directed by city staff, and a hearing before the public, should the decision to destroy this historic landmark be taken.
Sadly, by destroying this historic structure, the city will allow the developer to destroy the home of the local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. This amazing nonprofit organization has saved countless lives, relationships and families over so many years. They have called the “rafters,” the second floor of the historic courthouse, home for longer than any AA chapter in Los Angeles County. In another ironic twist, the “rafters” was one of the first homes of the Canyon Theatre Guild in the 1970s before it moved to a different location.
This project needs to be rejected by the council.
If you love our Old Town New-hall, if you are having a hard time finding parking, or if you love the organizations, businesses and residences that will be badly hurt by this project, please come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 22, at 6 p.m. If you cannot attend, please write a note about your concerns to the [email protected].
TimBen Boydston is the executive director of the Canyon Theatre Guild and a former member of the Santa Clarita City Council.
