ANNEXATION BID MAY HELP OTHERS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

A developer's bid to annex a proposed 866-home subdivision into Santa Clarita could spur piggyback-annexation requests from the Placerita Canyon area, which currently is not eligible for incorporation.

Developers of Golden Valley Ranch have offered to help the Placerita Nature Center - a state park - and Placerita Chaparral - a community of 60 residents - in their annexation efforts, according to documents provided by PacSun LLC, a Pasadena-based developer.

Golden Valley Ranch's incorporation would extend the city's boundaries to the nature center and Placerita Chaparral, enabling them to apply for annexation said PacSun consultant Allan Cameron of Comprehensive Development Consulting.

The two neighbors now have no physical connection to Santa Clarita, making annexation implausible, said Cameron, who estimated the two Placerita Canyon neighbors are more than a mile from the city's border.

``Golden Valley Ranch would create a land bridge to those communities,'' he said.

Placerita Canyon Park Supervisor Darrell Wanner declined comment on the annexation strategy, saying he wants more information about the development proposal before backing or opposing PacSun's development proposal.

Joe Inch, the city park project development coordinator, said he was unaware of prior annexations discussions with the county concerning the nature center.

``Generally speaking, whether it was in the county or city jurisdiction, I don't think operations there would change, since it's a state park,'' he said.

Placerita Chaparral residents on Wednesday could not be reached for comment, but they are known for strongly siding with the city on community and environmental issues, including the ongoing Soledad Canyon mining proposal and the past efforts to block a landfill in Elsmere Canyon.

Golden Valley Ranch is proposed on a 1,310-acre parcel beside the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway near the nature center and Angeles National Forest at the city's border.

The project is expected to undergo public hearings before the city Planning Commission by December, but property owners near the project site are being notified this week about the development.

More than 4,000 informational packets were mailed to homes in Canyon Country and Newhall, said Cameron, noting the packets contained surveys to gather public concerns.

The developers, who voluntarily are requesting annexation, need the city's approval to build 866 single-family homes to cost $250,000 to $450,000, a 611,000 square-foot retail center along the freeway, 9.9-acre municipal park, 10-acre elementary school, two water tanks, hiking trails and open-space preserves.

PacSun also is offering to give to Santa Clarita a 67.8-acre parcel from the project site designated as Angeles National Forest land. City boundaries currently do not overlap the forest.

``That would be wonderful,'' Inch said. ``So far (city parks officials) have been very supportive of their open space and trail plans. They seem to be moving in the right direction.''

Cameron, also a member of local environmental groups, said designers spent more than two years on Golden Valley Ranch to incorporate into its layout the land's natural constraints, such as ridgelines, oak trees and landslide areas.

Engineers and geologists helped design the shopping center to act as an anchor, or land dam, to deter land slides in a historically active slip area, according to design plans. Subsidence problems have plagued the freeway corridor for years, causing buckled roadways in places, officials said.

Cameron said the overall project is designed to preserve as many oak trees as possible and avoid building in landslide areas. That was feasible because most trees are concentrated within the identified landslide zones, he said.

City planners have looked favorably on the developers' plan to remove just 131 of the 3,215 oak trees on the land. The 4 percent oak removal ratio is considered low for development, they said in recent interviews.

The project incorporates ridgelines as natural buffers between Golden Valley Ranch homes and the freeway, as well as between the project site and neighbors in Canyon Country and Newhall. No homes will be built above ridgelines, according to plans.