Santa Clarita Votes to Ignore General Plan of L.A. County

The Santa Clarita City Council voted 4 to 1 Thursday night not to adopt the Los Angeles County General Plan as the city’s plan, even on an interim basis.

Most council members said they feared that operating under the county plan, a summary of development goals, would lead to less-restrictive controls on development, especially on the hillsides.

After a public hearing, the council instructed its newly appointed Planning Commission to write a new general plan.

The council also ordered City Atty. Carl Newton to draw up an ordinance to ensure that the city follow provisions of the court-ordered county development monitoring system when considering building projects. The system is a computerized method of evaluating development proposals to ensure that they will not overburden roads, schools, parks, water supplies and other services.

The City Council instructed commission members to use the county General Plan as a policy document in its deliberations on development and zoning, but to introduce stiffer controls on hillside developments.

Traditional Grace Period

Adopting the county’s General Plan for the city would “hogtie the Planning Commission,” Councilwoman Jan Heidt said. Other newly incorporated cities traditionally have taken the 30-month grace period allowed under state law to develop their own general plans, she said.

Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon said the area’s hillsides and ridgelines have been inadequately protected by the county document.

Councilman Dennis Koontz disagreed with other council members, casting the lone dissenting vote. He said the decisions should be made by the Planning Commission after it is sworn in March 15. Koontz also said the city should adopt the county plan while the Planning Commission develops a city blueprint.

Newton said that, without a general plan, the city’s governmental bodies will be ruled by county zoning ordinances adopted by the City Council when the city incorporated Dec. 15. The City Council will not be prohibited from making zone changes during the time it has no plan, the city attorney said.

Inconsistent With Zoning Laws

County planner George Malone said the existing county General Plan for the area, last revised in 1984, is inconsistent with zoning laws. He said the county has enacted 20 General Plan amendments affecting 401 acres since then.

“We must work expeditiously to bring zoning to consistency with the General Plan,” Malone said.

Newton said he has “strong misgivings” about the city’s adopting the county plan because of the inconsistencies.

“If you do not have a general plan, your only land-use limitation is the zoning ordinances,” he told the council.

The council’s actions appeared to satisfy most residents, but displeased developers.

“I would like to see this referred to our Planning Commission,” said resident Dorothy Riley. “We’ve seen our ridgelines disappear. I just don’t like what’s been happening to our hillsides.”

But Gloria Casvin, a vice president of Newhall Land & Farming Co., the area’s major developer, asked the council to adopt the county plan.

“We think it’s better to have a plan than not to have a plan,” she said. “Without a plan, it will be very hard to treat all landowners equitably.”

“I think they’ve just handed us a whole lot of work,” said Connie Worden, who was appointed to the Planning Commission last week.

Santa Clarita residents for years have criticized the county’s General Plan as too lenient on development. They also have maintained that the plan invites more development because population projections for the area have been too high.

Malone said county officials have agreed to work with the new city on revising the population projection, which predicts that the entire Santa Clarita Valley will grow from its existing 109,000 to 270,000 residents by 2010.