The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to review a plan for more than 1,500 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space on the west side.
The county’s Regional Planning Commission unanimously approved staff recommendations at an Oct. 1 hearing, which cleared the way for Tuesday’s review of the latest plans from The Newhall Land and Farming Co., a subsidiary of Five Point Holdings.
The plans are within the already-approved development footprint of Newhall Ranch, according to the developer: the Entrada South project is west of The Old Road on both sides of Magic Mountain Parkway; and the Valencia Commerce Center project is west of Interstate 5 and The Old Road, north of State Route 126, and east of Commerce Center Drive and the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.
The Entrada South plan calls for: 1,574 attached townhome and detached condominium units; a total of 115.1 acres of open space; 20 commercial lots with 730,000 square feet of commercial space, including hotel, office and retail space; almost 20 acres of private recreation lots; and one 5.4-acre public park lot, on approximately 328 acres.
The plans are expected to include at least 10% of those homes being set aside for affordable homes, according to the recent discussion in front of the Regional Planning Commission.
Commissioners stopped short of mandating the project pay prevailing county construction wages, which Newhall Land officials said has been a real obstacle to affordable housing. The developer said that would add more than $95,000 to the cost of each home, based on a regional economic-impact study.
Newhall Land officials said the nearby Mission Village, which has seen more than 1,200 homes sold since its approval, is a likely gauge of the company’s anticipated success with this next phase.
Supporters of the project have mentioned that in addition to much-needed homes to help a statewide housing crisis, the project will have a reduced building footprint and a net-zero designation. The “net-zero” label refers to zero greenhouse gas emissions from the project’s construction and operations, according to the developer.
The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, a local environmentalist group, sent an 11-page letter that argued there were numerous problems with the county’s analyses and outreach process for the project.
The current plan heading to the board calls for a reduction of 151 residential units and an increase of 280,000 square feet of commercial floor area as compared to the 2017 approval given.
