'VALENCIA' SIGN IS GOING BACK UP NEWHALL LAND AGREES TO INCLUDE NAME OF COLLEGE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A large monument sign that Newhall Land illegally placed along the Golden State Freeway will be resurrected after nearly five years, with a little modification.

The 20-ton, triangular ``Valencia'' sign will be put back on grassy hills east of the I-5 on College of the Canyons' property as it was in 1998 before The Newhall Land and Farming Company had to remove it after failing to get city permits.

But, this time around, the stone sign will also bear the name of the college.

``More than anything, that particular sign is a community identification sign,'' said Marlee Lauffer, Newhall Land spokeswoman. ``Currently, it's the only freeway community identification sign for Valencia and College of the Canyons.''

The college board on Wednesday agreed to allow the sign to be erected with a couple of provisions: The school's superintendent-president, Dianne Van Hook, receives further details on its appearance, and she gets official written verification that the city of Santa Clarita didn't want to participate in the sign.

``We don't want to exclude a partner,'' Van Hook said.

When the sign read only ``Valencia,'' Newhall Land had agreed to pay $1,000 per year for 15 years to post it between McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard. Since the sign now also includes the college's name, no fee will be required from Newhall Land.

``It has always been an interest of the college to have the college's name on the sign and have it be a partnership rather than a lease agreement, because we should benefit tremendously from having College of the Canyons' name seen from the freeway,'' Van Hook said.

Caltrans already has posted a sign for the college on the freeway, but Van Hook said that in many cases drivers see it too late to turn off at the Valencia Boulevard exit.

This 40-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall sign could be up in a few months. The sign, which cost the developer $50,000, will also announce major community events like the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival and the Senior Golf Classic, Lauffer said.

As in the original agreement, the new contract stipulates that Newhall Land can make some mutually agreed upon improvements throughout the college's campus, Van Hook said.

Newhall Land has already installed white fencing around the perimeter of the campus facing the freeway and has planted trees along Valencia Boulevard, next to the school's parking lot. Approval for the sign comes several weeks after Newhall Land began operating an electronic monument sign north of the Valencia Boulevard exit of the freeway, which identifies the Valencia Town Center and the auto dealers.

``That is to make drivers aware that just a short distance off the freeway they can stop to dine, shop, buy a car, whatever their needs are,'' Lauffer said.