Over a dozen years before she cut a deal to demolish the old Newhall courthouse in exchange for a developer paying the city $750,000 toward historical preservation efforts, Santa Clarita Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste spoke out about the importance of preserving the building when the city was discussing the creation of its Historic Preservation Ordinance.
In videos obtained by The Signal, Weste in 2011 and 2012 spoke in City Council meetings advocating for the courthouse to be preserved as an important part of local history. At the time, she described it as one of the city’s “most intrinsic valuable properties.”
Now, she stands as the dealmaker behind the courthouse’s possibly imminent destruction in exchange for $750,000 cash.
The City Council is set Tuesday to deliberate on a proposed deal Weste struck with a Newhall developer trying to turn the 90-year-old building into part of his condos and retail plans for Main and Market streets.
The project would be a five-story mixed-use building with 78 residential units and 5,200 square feet of retail, and draw more of the type of foot traffic that several neighborhood businesses have said would really help.
Weste declined to answer questions about her evolving position on Monday. She said she was in a meeting with staff Monday afternoon when she answered the phone regarding a request for comment, declining to comment but saying any statements she had regarding the courthouse would come out Tuesday during the council discussion.
Archived footage from past City Council meetings shows her change in tune regarding the courthouse.
“There are no great communities that don’t value their history,” Weste said in August 2011, arguing in favor of the preservation ordinance. “I don’t know how many people actually would want to tear down their courthouse, tear down their old jails, take away the most intrinsic valuable properties that are the reason we’re all here.”
Discussing a city staff presentation that indicated the courthouse was one of two buildings on which the city staff needed guidance, Weste said, in 2011: “If we’re going to preserve, and it’s really important to preserve, then those items should not be allowed to be destroyed.”
A list of historic structures was whittled from 26 to about 11, and the courthouse and the original Newhall jail, built in 1909, were on the “tentative list.”
The second floor of the original courthouse was built from lumber repurposed from the Hap-A-Lan Dance Hall, a 1920s hotspot that later served as a morgue during the San Francisquito Dam disaster.
“I would just ask any of you, would you want your jails destroyed, would you want your courthouse destroyed, would you want Tom Mix dressing rooms destroyed? It’s an icon nationally,” Weste said, arguing for preservation of structures including the courthouse.
During the discussion, Weste also is seen saying the courthouse made the list of historic structures after saying to herself, “‘What … do we absolutely need to preserve?’” she said during the council meeting. “So, I got it down through going through the list, going through the list and going through the list.”
The Signal obtained the recordings after recent contentions by the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society — for which Weste has been a board member for decades — that the building no longer has its historic value, due to a remodel that happened in the 1960s prior to the courthouse’s move, and prior to her arguments in favor of its preservation.
Regarding the current proposal, the Santa Clarita Planning Division wrote a recommendation to allow Weste’s deal, citing a Historical Society letter — which was part of an agreement struck between Weste and the project’s developer, Jason Tolleson — as to why the building can’t be moved.
Now those questioning the deal are asking for a study of the move, which Weste previously said was part of her talks with the developer. However, at the Planning Commission meeting, Tolleson acknowledged that if he thought the building would have to be moved, he wouldn’t have included it due to a fear of the potential cost for such a move.
During last month’s Planning Commission discussion, Assistant City Attorney Karl Berger both said whatever was worked out between Tolleson and Weste does not represent an obligation for the City Council. City Manager Ken Striplin said he wasn’t a party to the negotiation.
However, as a result of those talks, the city is considering a proposed agreement the City Council will discuss Tuesday in which Tolleson would pay $750,000 in exchange for demolishing the old courthouse.
The original condo project called for one less story over three addresses all on Main Street, and it didn’t touch the courthouse. A second rendition added the courthouse building.
Weste previously said her conversations and membership on both governing bodies — the city’s and the historical society’s — don’t represent a conflict of interest because she was negotiating on behalf of the city.
