Growth always comes with costs. The question is who should be expected to absorb them. That question is no longer theoretical in Santa Clarita.
For months, businesses along Bouquet Canyon Road have been dealing with the consequences of an 11-month road closure tied to the Bouquet Canyon project, a development approved by the City Council in 2020 that includes up to 375 homes, a roadway realignment and major flood control improvements. The closure began in February and is expected to continue for most of the year. The long-term project may ultimately improve traffic flow, safety and flood protection. But for some existing businesses, the short-term cost has been severe.
Owners in Bouquet Plaza and the nearby Plum Commerce Center have reported dramatic declines in traffic and revenue. Some have described losses reaching tens of thousands of dollars. One longtime restaurant has considered relocating because it cannot continue operating under current conditions.
These are not businesses complaining about ordinary construction inconvenience. They are businesses fighting to survive. And that raises a difficult but important question: When a development project creates a public disruption that financially harms existing businesses, who should bear responsibility?
The easy answer is to tell customers to shop local. And Santa Clarita has tried. The city launched promotional efforts, including a Shop Local event and its Open Rewards program, specifically encouraging residents to support Bouquet Canyon businesses affected by the closure. Mayor Laurene Weste has publicly acknowledged that those businesses need the community’s support.
Those efforts are worthwhile. But marketing cannot replace access. A restaurant cannot survive indefinitely on good will if customers find it difficult to reach. A retailer cannot pay rent with social media exposure. A small business cannot simply absorb months of lost traffic because a nearby project is expected to provide benefits years from now.
That is where the conversation has to move beyond sympathy. The Santa Clarita City Council has already discussed whether some form of assistance should be developed for affected businesses, including working with the Chamber of Commerce and requiring documentation of losses.
That is a reasonable step. But Santa Clarita should also ask what this experience teaches us about future development. When major projects are approved, economic disruption to surrounding businesses should be treated as seriously as traffic, noise, drainage, and environmental impacts. If a project requires a road closure lasting nearly a year, planners should know in advance who depends on that road.
How many businesses will lose passing traffic? How will customers reach them? Can construction be phased differently? Can temporary access be maintained? And if significant financial harm is foreseeable, should mitigation be built into the project before construction begins?
Those questions should not be asked months after businesses start losing money. They should be answered before the first barricade goes up.
This is not an argument against the Bouquet Canyon project. The roadway realignment and flood-control improvements have legitimate public purposes, and the city has emphasized that the work is part of a long-range transportation vision.
But legitimate public improvements do not erase legitimate private losses. Development should create opportunity, not simply redistribute hardship.
If residents gain a safer road and new homes while longtime businesses are pushed toward closure, then something in the equation deserves another look.
Santa Clarita will continue growing. That makes this moment especially important. The city has numerous developments under construction, approved or under review. Each project will bring benefits. Each may also create temporary or permanent consequences for the people already living and doing business nearby. Good planning requires looking at both.
Small businesses are more than storefronts. They employ residents, pay taxes, sponsor local teams and community events, and build relationships that make neighborhoods feel like neighborhoods.
Once they disappear, replacing them is not always easy. That is why the lesson of Bouquet Canyon should extend far beyond Bouquet Canyon.
Growth should not require existing businesses to become collateral damage. And when government approves development that creates predictable disruption, responsibility should not end with an approval vote. It should include protecting the community that was already there. Because progress should not be measured only by what we build. It should also be measured by what we refuse to sacrifice.
Mihran Kalaydjian
Santa Clarita
