Considering the Impact of Newhall Ranch

The proposed Newhall Ranch project would be the largest master-planned housing development ever in Los Angeles County, with 25,000 living units on a 19-square-mile site in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Critics have attacked the project--which would, if built, eventually be home to as many as 70,000 people--because they say it would have an adverse impact on the environment, traffic flow and availability of water.

The project, developed by the Newhall Land & Farming Co., is in the public-comment phase before the county’s Regional Planning Commission.

Is the plan for the Newhall Ranch development a sound one?

Ron Bottorff, chairman of Friends of the Santa Clara River.

“The Newhall Ranch ‘new city’ of 70,000 people has so many associated problems and negative impacts that it simply must be rethought and downsized to even approach the definition of a sound development project. The air quality of the Santa Clarita area is already far substandard, and Newhall Ranch is not in compliance with SCAQMD’s (South Coast Air Quality Management District) plan. Traffic on major arteries in the region, most notably I-5, is already at capacity, and Newhall Ranch will further exacerbate traffic congestion. Water is very hard to come by in California and the water supply for the project has only been partly identified. The Santa Clara River . . . will be heavily impacted . . . About 1,500 acres of farmland will be lost . . . Let’s start over with this one.”

Santa Clarita Mayor Carl Boyer.

“I believe it can be good, and if the county and the city, the developers and residents all communicate effectively with each other, I think we can work out whatever problems there may be. All of the stakeholders up here have to sit down with all of the developers and really work out what is going to happen in the valley and what the future will be to make sure there is a vision for the valley . . . I don’t think it’s going to have as much of an impact as many would think, except for traffic.”

Michael Kotch, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment.

“Bad idea. It’s not needed . . . If you look at what has already been approved and planned, we’ve got a 15-year supply for housing . . . The development is going to make major changes in the area as far as the balance in jobs. It’s going to flood the freeways . . . Even looking at the projections is going through some smoke and mirrors to justify whether there’s enough water in the project . . . The river is a concern . . . The company has taken the attitude the river is a commodity to be engineered.”

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land & Farming Co.

“At Newhall Ranch, nature has been given primary consideration, and the plan conceived around it. Nearly half the 12,000 acres--nine square miles--will remain as permanent open space. Newhall Ranch will provide almost 25,000 homes, 19,000 jobs, and 6,000 acres of open areas, including two areas of significant biological value--the Santa Susana high country and the Santa Clara River. Over 30 miles of new roads and highways will access the new community.”

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