Bid for Santa Clarita Growth Zone Expansion Faulted

Officials of the agency that oversees municipal boundaries are recommending that the agency’s board reject Santa Clarita’s bid to expand its zone of growth to more than 160 square miles of the unincorporated Santa Clarita Valley.

The city is asking the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, to extend Santa Clarita’s “sphere of influence” over one-third of the valley, including the unincorporated communities of Val Verde and Castaic and two canyons regarded by Los Angeles County sanitation officials as likely sites for garbage dumps.

A sphere of influence designates the land eligible for annexation.

Santa Clarita’s proposed sphere would include the 39 square miles within the current city boundaries plus an additional 160 square miles stretching from the Ventura County line on the west to Angeles National Forest on the east. If the area eventually became part of Santa Clarita, it would create a giant city equal in area to the combined cities of Lancaster, Palmdale, Long Beach and Glendale.

But in a report to the LAFCO board released this week, the agency’s executive director, Ruth Benell, recommended that the city’s total sphere be scaled back to about 90 square miles. A public hearing on the city’s request is scheduled for Nov. 15.

The sphere recommended by Benell roughly equals the city boundaries proposed by incorporation advocates two years ago. But LAFCO scaled back that request to the 39 square miles that now include most of Valencia, Saugus, Newhall and Canyon Country.

In her report to the LAFCO board, Benell said Castaic should not be included in Santa Clarita’s sphere because residents there opposed the city’s expansion.

Santa Clarita’s proposal is opposed by three county agencies hoping to preserve Elsmere Canyon and Towsley Canyon as potential dump sites.

The Santa Clarita City Council wanted Elsmere and Towsley included in the city’s sphere to have some say over their future.

City Manager George Caravalho said Thursday that the city requested the large sphere because it makes sense to create a unified plan to guide the valley’s overall growth. “We still think the proposal is sound and that the boundaries make sense,” Caravalho said.