Residents not enthused about developer’s plan for 11-month Bouquet Canyon detour
Bouquet Canyon residents and commuters showed up to the Santa Clarita Activities Center en masse Wednesday to hear Lennar’s plan to shut down their main arterial roadway for the next 11 months while the developer reroutes their daily drive.
As anticipated, there was little enthusiasm about the plan.
The developer blamed the 11-month closure of Bouquet Canyon Road on a need to move hundreds of thousands of square feet of earth in order to make the project’s flood plain federally compliant, while making it safe for a new bridge on Bouquet Canyon Road.
John Musella, spokesman for Lennar, could not confirm the start date for the work at this time. A website created by the developer indicated last month that the start date would be mid-January.
Motorists who travel Bouquet Canyon Road will be asked to detour Bouquet Canyon Road, which will be closed from Benz Road to David Way, with Hobbs and Sue Court also being closed off to all traffic except emergency vehicles.
The concerns about the project revolved around the various traffic impacts to residents’ neighborhoods. There were gasps and complaints at the plans for a triple-left turn for Bouquet Canyon Road at Plum Canyon, which was meant to facilitate the increased detour traffic.
For southbound drivers on Bouquet Canyon Road, they’ll be able to take David Way to Copper Hill Drive on a continuous signal. Kathleen Avenue at Copper Hill Drive will also become a signalized intersection to help traffic, according to Joel Bareng, Santa Clarita’s traffic engineer.
There also will be intersection changes at Bouquet and Seco canyon roads; Bouquet and Haskell canyon roads; Plum and Bouquet canyon roads; Bouquet and Centurion Way; and Bouquet and David Way.
Maps are available to explain the changes and their phases at a website built for the project, BouquetCanyonRoad.com.
“It isn’t just a city problem or a developer problem,” said Brian Bencz, speaking for Lennar, adding it was a problem for everyone and the developer was just trying to have a transparent discussion on the challenge. “The city did everything they could to try to shorten this alteration.”
Angry residents called the meeting a “facade,” with more than one complaining that closure was a foregone conclusion and the developer was dismissing their concerns.
Some questioned whether there would be a delay for emergency-response times, with an L.A. County fire chief who attended the meeting saying the impact would be minimal on time because they have a key that opens such gates and they are prepared “to be flexible.” He likened the response impact to be similar to one in a gated community.
“We will get to you, one way or the other, even if we have to jump over the fence or drive through it,” said Lt. Guillermo Martinez of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “We’ve done that before.”
City officials also said they plan to contact navigational apps so that they are aware of the closures.
Bareng said the city would be monitoring the traffic situation for impacted communities, and they’ll have cameras at all of the intersections, as well as the capability to adjust the timing of the signals, which is the main mechanism to address problems with the plan.
Residents also asked about school delays and whether start times would be impacted, and Bareng said he would address any concerns with the school if necessary.
There also were concerns for the businesses in two small business parks, including Bouquet Canyon Plaza, that complained about the impacts that limiting their traffic would have.
Musella said customers will still be able to drive up Bouquet Canyon Road to access those businesses.
Bencz started by saying the timing was necessary due to the area’s flood plain in the area, which he said is being tripled in size due to requirements from federal officials including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The flood-plain channel west of the project had to be expanded from 40 feet wide to 120 feet wide, according to Bencz’s presentation, and he said it would be impossible to change the order of operations as that would compromise the old bridge in a flood. That would pose a danger to homes west of the project in the event of a flood. He shook his head as residents shouted that it was a cost-saving move because the developer didn’t want to move the dirt twice.
Bencz repeatedly denied it was a cost-saving measure, adding there was nowhere else to put the dirt, and it would be balanced on the site.
A number of residents were upset at the city for not taking their needs into better account or making the developer move the dirt twice, instead of shutting down their main arterial for nearly a year.
Bencz said city officials fought hard for residents for four years while project officials worked on the plan with traffic engineers, which drew laughter from many members of the audience.
Bencz said the closure was “a matter of life and health and human safety.”
Bareng spoke on behalf of the city for most of the meeting, which did not have any input from the Santa Clarita City Council.
