BIG NEW NEIGHBOR STILL A STRANGER LENNAR CORP.'S COMMUNITY FOCUS QUESTIONED.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Almost a year after purchasing The Newhall Land and Farming Company, national housing giant Lennar Corp. is guiding the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project, which is the keystone of the Santa Clarita Valley's future.

Still, residents of the region know very little about the company that will transform the rolling hills west of the Golden State Freeway into vast clusters of neighborhoods and funnel more than 60,000 people into the new town.

There is fear that the nation's third-largest home builder, with its corporate headquarters more than 3,000 miles away in Miami, Fla., will not give the same attention to valley issues that Valencia-based Newhall Land would have.

``It's a concern that (Lennar)'s future is not here, that we are a very, very small part of their future, and we don't have any decent controls over what happens in this valley because the county is not doing the job that they could be doing,'' said Carl Boyer, chairman of the committee that incorporated the city in 1987, one of Santa Clarita's first City Council members and later a mayor.

Lennar officials say that Newhall Ranch development, which will not be completed until 2030, will be handled exclusively by their Newhall Land division, which is run by the same management as before the $990 million purchase by Lennar and its commercial partner LNR Property Corp.

``Real estate is a very local business. Miami doesn't make decisions about what goes on in a community in California or in a community in New Jersey. The people we have employed locally have the responsibility for what goes on in that market,'' said Jon Jaffe, western regional president for Lennar.

``Our managers in Santa Clarita are charged with the responsibilities in that area. ... Our goal is to grow Newhall as an entity.''

Lennar Corp. is the third-largest home builder in the nation, annually selling more than 32,000 homes in 19 states. Founded in 1954 on a $10,000 investment, the company went public in 1971 and is now worth $6 billion, according to its Web site.

After going public, Lennar spread beyond Florida, where the company was established as one of the state's largest developers.

Through acquisitions, the company expanded its presence into Texas and California, Jaffe said - and the pattern continues today.

In 2000, Lennar acquired U.S. Home Corp., at that time one of the largest home builders in the nation.

``As we go forward, we continue to make acquisitions,'' Jaffe said.

In 2003, Newhall Land became a division of Lennar, a fact that has local environmentalists concerned that regional issues related to water supply, open space, air quality and traffic congestion will be viewed as obstacles in the way of development, rather than problems that require costly solutions.

``Because Lennar is out of state and is so big, we fear they don't have the best interests of the local area. They want to make money,'' said Johanna Zetterberg, a coordinator for the Sierra Club, Angeles chapter. ``Newhall Ranch is exactly the kind of development that the West can't sustain. It's a poster child for urban sprawl.''

This sentiment was echoed by environmentalists in Florida, who have worked for years with Lennar.

``I don't think their intention when they go into communities is to evaluate the best overall land use of a given geography. It just seems to be their practice of going in and buying land where it's cheap and turning a profit,'' said Shannon Mayorga, a conservation coordinator for Audubon of Florida.

The organization recently lost a lawsuit against Lennar in which Audubon of Florida claimed that a land development threatened Biscayne National Park and the Everglades Restoration Project, Mayorga said.

However, Lennar and Newhall officials contend that the change in ownership will have little effect on the actual development of Newhall Ranch, and they note that their plans require approval by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

According to Newhall Vice President Marlee Lauffer, Lennar's added financial backing will enhance the development.

``The current community ought to be very heartened by the fact that our new owners are real estate professionals and are therefore very well versed in what you need to do to make great communities.

``Prior to that, every quarter we would have to be educating our (stockholders) on why we would need to do this or why we need to do that,'' Lauffer said.

``This allows us to concentrate and focus our attention on community planning.''

Robert Curran, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, has followed Lennar Corp. for more than 25 years and agrees with Lauffer that Newhall Ranch is in relatively good hands.

He cites factors that should calm Santa Clarita residents, including the fact that Newhall Ranch development will take 25 years to complete.

``Because it's such a large build-out, it really argues against a short-term, counterproductive approach to building out in community relations. It makes no sense to do things to burn bridges at the beginning of a long process,'' Curran said.

``It's an old company, from the '50s, so it's not a fly-by-night company. It's got a lot of roots.''

But former Mayor Boyer still wonders whether Lennar will sink roots in Santa Clarita and whether 10 years from now Newhall Land will still be operated by familiar faces with the future of the valley at heart.

``There's going to be a real question of whether there is any knowledge of our local concerns by the people in Florida in the long run,'' Boyer said.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Jon Jaffe