Growth, Landfills, Schools Will Challenge Officials

The Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys will continue to wrestle with the consequences of rapid growth, with election-year debates expected to exacerbate controversies over expanding landfills, deteriorating schools and overburdened highways.

Congressional primaries, state legislative races and city council elections will provide the local backdrop to the national political contests.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, the feverish efforts to create or expand landfills promise to reach pivotal points in 1996, with the 190-million-ton landfill proposed for Elsmere Canyon slated for consideration by the U.S. Senate.

The Senate measure would vastly undermine the viability of the project by making it impossible to transfer U.S. Forest Service land for use as a dump. The use of federal forest land is an integral part of the Elsmere project.

Another landfill controversy will wind to a conclusion in 1996, as public hearings over the proposed expansion of the Chiquita Canyon landfill near Val Verde are completed.

Antidump activists will probably continue to press Santa Clarita City Council to oppose the Chiquita expansion, urging the city to mount a lobbying campaign against it.

Trash will figure in other Santa Clarita city actions, as council members move toward the stabilization of trash hauling rates. The reconsideration of franchise agreements with haulers and a new policy on the disposal of tree trimmings are also expected.

The council will also take up the more mundane matters of roads, sewers and traffic signals, while working to sign a lease as early as April for land earmarked for a central park.

Growth issues will also have a prominent place on school agendas. Several school districts are expected to continue efforts to pressure developers to pay higher fees to mitigate the impact of their developments on schools. Trustees say the fees are necessary to build schools overwhelmed by students from new housing tracts.

Antelope Valley schools are also expected to struggle with woes brought on by aging buildings and more students.

Civic leaders are likely to focus on revitalizing the Antelope Valley’s economy, which has suffered job losses during the recession. The passage of the 1996 military spending bill, which includes a $493-million appropriation for the B-2 Stealth bomber program, offers some cause for optimism. The program is favored by civic leaders because of its contribution to long-term, steady employment in the Antelope Valley.

Lancaster’s new minor league baseball team, the JetHawks, is expected to start its first season in the Antelope Valley, playing in a new $14.3 million stadium complete with luxury boxes. The California League team’s first home game is April 16.