Santa Clarita Makes Offer on New Site for City Hall

Santa Clarita, after an unsuccessful yearlong effort to buy the defunct 520-acre Saugus Rehabilitation Center, has offered a private landowner $5.1 million for 238 acres where it hopes to build a city hall and park.

Santa Clarita officials made their bid Wednesday and gave Wes Lind, the property owner, until today to respond. Assistant City Manager Ken Pulskamp said the short deadline was not unreasonable because Lind’s own appraiser determined the property’s value.

“We made what we believe is a very fair offer,” Pulskamp said Thursday. City officials consulted local real-estate experts and decided that $5.1 million was a fair price for the property, he said.

Pulskamp said he was hopeful that the offer would be accepted because the city is prepared to pay cash for the land. “The offer isn’t a complicated one,” he said.

Regular Meeting

If the bid is accepted, the deal could be approved by the City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday.

A spokesman for Lind declined to comment on the offer Thursday.

The property is conveniently located in the center of the city, southeast of the intersection of Soledad Canyon and San Fernando roads. The parcel includes hills that could provide a scenic backdrop for a city hall and park, Pulskamp said. City offices now are on the third floor of the Valencia National Bank building.

The city’s bid came two days after Los Angeles city officials rejected a $15.8-million bid by the Castaic Lake Water Agency for the Saugus Rehabilitation Center. The water agency wants 60 to 80 acres of the former alcoholic rehabilitation center for a water treatment plant and recently agreed to join Santa Clarita in pursuing the property.

Under a plan hashed out by the City Council and water agency directors, the agency agreed to lead the negotiations with Los Angeles over the property. But Los Angeles officials said the agency could only negotiate for the land it needs for the treatment plant, not the entire parcel.