'URBAN VILLAGE' PLAN WORRIES SCHOOL DISTRICT NEW HOMES COULD OVERRUN CAMPUSES.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

NEWHALL - The city's draft plan to revitalize old Newhall into an ``urban village'' includes some 712 housing units added over 20 years - a potential groundswell of children local school administrators fear could bring back crowded classrooms.

The Newhall School District serves roughly 6,900 kindergarten through sixth-grade students, including 1,975 in the downtown Newhall area. The district already buses about 575 of these students to campuses outside the neighborhood because the two local schools - Newhall Elementary and J. Michael McGrath Elementary - are at capacity with 700 students each.

Though it is difficult to project how the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan would affect enrollment over two decades, district Superintendent Marc Winger wants to make sure planners prepare for the future today.

``We need to think about this issue and think of some solution to it,'' he said. ``I support what they're going to do, but I think the school issue was a bit glossed over.

``Where is the land, and will there ever be enough developer money to build a new school?''

The city's much-touted redevelopment plan is intended to set design and zoning standards that planners believe could convert some 50 blocks of downtown and east Newhall into a trendy entertainment and residential destination, complete with mixed-use apartments and national retailers.

The plan's draft environmental impact report said there is ``less than significant impact'' on schools, because state law requires developers to contribute to community facilities such as schools through fees or property.

The city's Planning Department has encouraged builders to work with the districts to offer more than the minimum fees to pass city Planning Commission scrutiny.

``We give very strong directions very early on in the process if this is an expectation,'' Planning Manager Lisa Hardy said. ``We will do that for development that occurs in the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan area as well as all projects in the city of Santa Clarita.''

But fees alone may not be enough, Winger said.

``They know schools get developer fees,'' he said. ``That's mitigation. But that's not mitigation for Newhall School District's needs.

``They're talking about generating enough kids to put in a whole school. Where are we going to put the school?''

There are few vacant parcels in downtown Newhall for a new elementary school. McGrath Elementary, which opened in 2003, would have met the area's needs for years without homes expected in the plan. District enrollment is projected to reach 7,299 by 2011, assuming construction begins on The Newhall Land and Farming Company's 20,885-home Newhall Ranch project west of Intestate 5.

``We are probably in a period of stability, or maybe even decline,'' Winger said. ``Until Newhall Ranch picks up, we will be very stable for the next five years.''

Besides building a new campus, the district could expand busing to campuses in older neighborhoods, where enrollment is projected to drop in the next decade, or expand Newhall Elementary to hold 1,000 students.

``But we're talking about a 1,000-child elementary school, which we shy away from,'' Winger said. ``(Elementary schools) should be a friendly, small atmosphere, where the principals know the kids.''

The additional students may not even materialize - mixed-use apartments typically generate fewer students than single-family-home communities, Winger said.

Still, Hardy said the city planning staff with meet with Winger in the next two weeks to discuss the issue.

``We're going to have a very comprehensive, global conversation,'' she said.

``The city needs to think of a new relationship with the school district,'' Winger said. ``We need to do some creative thinking on this.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com