The city of Santa Clarita’s newest planning commissioner credited a chance encounter in the College of the Canyons real estate program with starting a journey that would lead to a lengthy career in development and his nomination by Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste on Tuesday.
Dan Faina has spent the past 18 years working in real estate and property development, a journey that he said started after he studied under Dave Rendall, a local real estate broker who’s also a Newhall business owner and taught real estate at COC.
Faina said he had just moved to the Santa Clarita Valley in 2006 and began studying the business before starting in real estate the following year.
Through the mentorship he received and a friendship he developed the following year with Lance and Sadie Williams, the family behind Williams Homes, he was able to work on and learn from multiple local projects.
“And over the last 18 years, I’ve had the distinct pleasure to learn about the entire process, from entitlements, land development, home building, sales,” he said, “and I’ve grown, out of that, just a deep respect and appreciation for everything that goes into bringing a new community, a project, even public infrastructure, anything, to life.”
And through that process, he said he’s become a big fan of Santa Clarita and raising a family here.
“Now I like to say, even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t move anywhere — this is where we want to be,” he said.
Faina also said he had been contemplating getting more involved since prior to the “unplanned vacancy” — which made him aware of the circumstances that led up to his appointment and the previous controversy.
The previous seat-holder, Denise Lite, was ousted by the City Council in a 3-2 vote after Weste said she could not work with her.
Weste nominated Faina for the seat from a field of 11 applicants. The nomination was approved on a unanimous 5-0 vote. It is customary, though not required, for the council to approve one nominee for the commission from each of the five council members.
He was appointed to complete the remainder of Lite’s term, which expires in December 2026.
Faina referred to the appointment as a higher level of political involvement than what he was used to; however, he also said that experience in economic development, nonprofit organizations and “industry association politics” have given him some preparation.
“So, I’ve been on the periphery of the political realm within our town for quite a bit for the last 10 years. I understand how these things can go,” Faina said, “and it was at least a consideration I felt I needed to be prepared for — you know, sometimes in politics that’s just going to happen.”
In Faina’s current role as president of Williams and Watt Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams and Watt Builders, he said the focus is rebuilding homes in the communities of Altadena, Pasadena and the Pacific Palisades devastated by wildfires earlier this year.
