The L.A. County Regional Planning Commission unanimously gave final approval Wednesday on Homestead South, a 3,600-home part of the master-planned community formerly known as Newhall Ranch, which is now\u00a0Valencia by\u00a0FivePoint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Approved in 2003, the Newhall Ranch Specific Plan called for approximately 21,000 homes on more than 12,000 acres, and also accounted for planned infrastructure such as roads, schools, recreational spaces and public safety improvements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also calls for a\u00a0transformation of what\u2019s otherwise agricultural land, pristine\u00a0canyons\u00a0and a riparian habitat, with tens of millions of cubic yards of dirt to be moved.\u00a0That led to years of scrutiny through legal challenges from local and statewide environmental organizations over the potential environmental impacts just south of Santa Clara River.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project is just west of Mission Village, another\u00a0portion\u00a0of the\u00a0Valencia by\u00a0FivePoint\u00a0project, which is currently under construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plan\u2019s evolution includes the addition of about\u00a010,000 acres\u00a0of open space throughout the project, $15 million to permanently fund a\u00a0spineflower\u00a0preserve and create 50 miles of community trails,\u00a0and a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following a county staff presentation, Alex Harrell, senior vice president of\u00a0FivePoint, touted some features of the plan that came from\u00a0the\u00a0legal\u00a0process and community discussion since the 2003 approval, offering context for Wednesday\u2019s hearing in a section of his talk titled \u201cDecades in the Making.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2017, the approvals of Landmark Village and Mission Village added about 5,500 homes\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0about\u00a057 acres\u00a0of commercial development; and the Valencia\u00a0Commerce\u00a0Center\u00a0and Entrada South projects approved last year called for 1,574 homes and 94 acres of commercial development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first request Harrell received after finishing his presentation was a request from Commissioner Elvin Moon, for the developer to voluntarily double the number of affordable homes in the plan, with Moon saying the need for affordable housing has changed dramatically since the plan\u2019s 2003 approval that called for 10% affordable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harrell said FivePoint would not like to voluntarily increase that number.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were 30 speakers on the project, including 26 in person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among those speaking in favor of the project were\u00a0the executive director of the SCV Economic Development Corp.,\u00a0a spokesman\u00a0for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital,\u00a0another for\u00a0Logix Federal Credit Union, union representatives, contractors,\u00a0FivePoint\u00a0residents and other various community interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry Mayo Newhall Hospital and\u00a0FivePoint\u00a0are both committed to advancing\u00a0healthy\u00a0living in greater Santa Clarita,\u201d said\u00a0Patrick Moody, director of marketing for Henry Mayo, crediting\u00a0The\u00a0Newhall Land\u00a0and Farming Co. \u2014 now a\u00a0FivePoint\u00a0Holdings\u00a0subsidiary \u2014\u00a0with a 25-acre\u00a0contribution\u00a0that started the hospital 50 years ago, as well as\u00a0remaining\u00a0a \u201csteadfast contributor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHomestead South will provide\u00a0new walking trails,\u00a0including\u00a0a river trail, two new public parks, plus over\u00a01,000 acres\u00a0of open space.\u00a0All designed to get residents and the community at large\u00a0outside\u00a0and\u00a0exercising,\u201d\u00a0Moody\u00a0added,\u00a0in\u00a0calling for\u00a0the project\u2019s\u00a0support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several residents of\u00a0a nearby\u00a0FivePoint community talked about how the interconnected nature of the community and some of its planning elements have made their lives better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment was the lone\u00a0speaker to\u00a0raise concerns about the project\u00a0during public comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said the plan for a\u00a0project of\u00a0this size, when it was approved under\u00a0previous\u00a05th District Supervisor Michael Antonovich, called for a new environmental impact review for each village. She also said there should be a new\u00a0sewage-treatment\u00a0plant\u00a0added to the project. The existence of endangered species, as well as changing conditions since the original approval, such as the Chiquita Canyon Landfill concerns, are also reasons to prompt\u00a0additional\u00a0review, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harrell said in rebuttal that\u00a0previous\u00a0project studies have covered the concerns raised on the potential impact\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0local\u00a0habitat and\u00a0the project\u2019s infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
L.A. County planning staff, which recommended approval of the project, said a denial would require evidence of a \u201cspecific adverse impact on public health or safety, and no\u00a0feasible\u00a0method to satisfactorily mitigate any significant impact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to the hearing, the county received 153 letters in support of the plan and four in opposition, according to the staff presentation from Alejandrina Baldwin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plans connect to the rest of FivePoint through a bridge over the Santa Clara River from Landmark Village, which is the village directly north of the project and across State Route 126 from the Chiquita Canyon Landfill. That bridge would extend into Long Canyon Road, which connects with Magic Mountain Parkway in the project\u2019s southern tip.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The plan calls for an extension,\u00a0expansion\u00a0and realignment of both roads\u00a0to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0future growth and development, according to the county.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any opposition would have until Aug. 10 to file an appeal on the project, according to county officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The L.A. County Regional Planning Commission unanimously gave final approval Wednesday on Homestead South, a 3,600-home part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-420306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}