When the Planning Commission resumes meeting in August, the Wiley Canyon Project will be at or near the top of the agenda.
The plan presented last year for the former Smiser Mule Ranch, off Wiley Canyon Road between Hawkbryn Avenue and Calgrove Boulevard, would have brought a 379-unit mixed-use development and a senior living facility with another 217 units.
City officials said since the last public hearing in June 2024, the applicant has worked to revise the project and has prepared an additional alternative project, which reduces the overall number of residential units to 232.
“(The alternative) changes the senior living component to 120 assisted-living units, while keeping the commercial component the same at 9,000 square feet,” wrote Jason Crawford, director of community development for Santa Clarita, in an email Wednesday. “This reduced alternative will be presented to the Planning Commission for consideration and direction at the upcoming Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 19.”
Now Tom Clark of Royal Clark Development says a new plan will be presented in August, although he declined to release any specifics ahead of his next hearing.
“We’ve had a lot of community meetings over the last period of time, and we’ve talked about the changes that we are recommending, and so … that’ll be the focus of the hearing,” Clark said in a phone interview Wednesday.
He said in addition to the reduction in units, the plans in the fifth alternative called for a transition from for-rent to for-sale housing units.
The specific numbers and location were not released, but Clark said he’s been speaking to the community about the changes, and when asked if their concerns were addressed, he said, “The short answer is, yes.”
The plans have been in front of city officials several times due to concerns over traffic circulation and outreach.
In April, the Santa Clarita City Council ended up having to approve a second amendment to the project’s environmental impact review, adding to the consultants’ costs — which ultimately are paid by the developer — due to the high volume of concerns registered.
Clark also received heat in front of the Planning Commission for not making any translation services available during a previous meeting involving a neighboring mobile home park where the residents primarily spoke Spanish.
“The original proposal for the preparation of the (environmental impact report) assumed that no more than 100 individual comments would be received on the draft EIR,” according to a report prepared by Erika Iverson, the city’s lead planner on the project, in the city’s request to expand the project’s study in April. “Following the close of the public review and the Planning Commission hearing on March 19, over 500 individual comments were identified.”
The council’s discussion in April approved a nearly $40,000 expansion of the study for a fifth alternative, with no details given.
Santa Clarita City Hall is located at 23920 Valencia Blvd.
