The L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously denied an appeal by a local environmentalist group that sought a new Regional Planning Commission hearing over its concerns for the 492-home Spring Canyon project.
The first appeal to a hearing officer from the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority was denied by regional planning in February, prompting the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment’s appeal to supervisors Tuesday.
Charlie Jackson, vice president of Raintree Investment Corp., started the appeal hearing by thanking county staff for “shepherding” the plans to “where we’re at this morning,” with his company’s plans for land north of State Route 14 and Soledad Canyon Road, east of Mammoth Lane.
“This project has been 20 years in the making, and we are pushing forward to bring this project to fruition,” Jackson said. “It’s 492 much-needed housing units in the county.”
L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who also chairs the board, opened the hearing by allowing SCOPE a chance to air its concerns, which focused around the project’s access points, concerns about a potential fire station for the project and the concerns about the California mountain lion, which was added as a candidate for endangered species status after the project’s most recent approval.
County officials countered that the only item subject to appeal at the hearing based on county code was “the need for a new evaluation of impacts for wildlife corridors,” because the project’s final environmental review determined there were “significant and unavoidable impacts” to the mountain lion despite feasible mitigation measures.
Barger asked about the impact on the mountain lion and the project’s access points.
County planning officials said the listing by state fish and wildlife officials “does not increase or introduce additional environmental impacts to the project that was previously analyzed” in their recommendation for review. They also said the wildlife corridor is intended to address the impacts to the mountain lion.
In terms of the circulation concerns, “the project provides a total of three means of access,” according to David DeGrazia, deputy director of regional planning. “Two means will need to be constructed prior to the construction of the homes in phase one. A third access will be constructed prior to the completion of the project.”
After the appeal, SCOPE President Lynne Plambeck said the county was doing a bait-and-switch with its wording, and she questioned why the county would allow so many homes where more than 4,600 acres were torched by the Tick Fire in 2019.
Plambeck said the fire danger was a major issue. She said the county continues to mention the addition of a fire station — but added the plan doesn’t call for a fire station to be built, it calls for a land donation to the Fire Department.
Plambeck said Tuesday that’s just not the same thing, but county officials insisted that’s always what the language had said for the plan.
“In 2019, the board also found that the transfer of a fire station lot, not an actual building, but a lot in order to place a fire station to the L.A. County Fire Department would address fire and hazard concerns in the subdivision itself and in a surrounding area,” DeGrazia said. “Additionally, the project is required to submit brush clearance and a fuel-modification plan to the L.A. County Fire Department for review, and it’s also required to comply with any state laws regarding building in a very high fire severity zone.”
