ANNEX MOVE GOING TO VOTE.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - While two out of three annexations sought by the city were approved Wednesday, the one that got away - a neighborhood a mile from the planned mine Santa Clarita is fighting - now faces a vote by affected residents.

The agency that oversees municipal boundary changes in Los Angeles County had tentatively approved all three annexations last month, but an 11th-hour flurry of protest letters from property owners in the Stonecrest tract triggered the mandate for a public vote by those residents.

Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar said he was ``disappointed'' to hear that a number of people had expressed concerns about the Stonecrest annexation. ``It is clear to me that once again there has been expensive misinformation provided to many of these homeowners,'' he said. ``This annexation is an incredible opportunity for these households to become part of the city, which has been their greatest ally in working toward the prevention of this mining operation as proposed.''

The city has long battled the proposed the 56.1-million-ton gravel mine planned in Soledad Canyon by Mexico-based Cemex, and has recently lost appeals in court to have the project re-evaluated or scaled down.

The decision to put the annexation to a vote was made at a protest hearing held by the Local Agency Formation Commission on Wednesday. About 21 percent of registered voters in Stonecrest had sent written protests to the LAFCO in the last couple of days. LAFCO was set to decide on the annexations Wednesday.

Senior Planner Kai Luoma received calls last week from some Stonecrest residents who said a man was circulating a petition opposing the annexation and trying to get people to sign letters of protest. The callers were concerned that the information was inaccurate, and wanted Luoma to square their understanding of the matter. Each person he talked with who had lodged a protest tried to have it withdrawn, Luoma said. Not all were successful before the hearing.

Greg Silberman, a father of five who has lived in Stonecrest for 10 years, said he signed the petition but is now working through the process of having his name removed. He was one of those who called Luoma.

``This guy was going around scaring the neighbors,'' Silberman said. ``He said our taxes would go up but we were not getting more police and fire service.''

Silberman said he now supports the annexation effort, in particular because the city has battled the proposed Cemex sand and gravel mine near his home.

Bob Baida, who began the push for annexation of lower Stonecrest in 2000, was visited by a man who told him the same things told to Silberman. In about 2001, 426 property owners lived in the area. Of the 341 Baida spoke with, 316 favored annexation, he said. ``I heard the results (at LAFCO) and I'm quite dismayed,'' Baida said. ``Things have been turned around by somebody spreading false statements.''

Baida noted that his neighborhood is the closest to the proposed Cemex mine.

``We don't want it (the mine) and appreciate everything the city is doing,'' he said.

Several Santa Clarita City Council and staff members knocked on doors in Stonecrest in 2005 seeking support for the annexation.

``The majority overwhelmingly were in support,'' Luoma said. Stonecrest residents who are registered to vote in Los Angeles County will have a chance to vote on the matter, but when is not yet known.

Larry Calamine, executive director of LAFCO, said ``we had no idea there would be this protest.'' The commission had no objections of its own to the annexation proposals. No one showed up in person to protest, but the letters spoke for themselves.

A LAFCO employee compared signatures on the protest letters to voter lists from the county Registrar-Recorder through midnight Tuesday. The letters will be sent to the registrar so the signatures can be verified.

If written protests are received from 15 percent to 50 percent of residents in a proposed annexation area, the matter goes to a vote. If more than 50 percent protest, the request is killed; if less than 15 percent protest, the application is approved.

The other two annexations will add 6,000 residents to the city - 5,916 from Northpark and 216 from California Canyons.

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com