BRIDGE GRADING DEBATED COUNCIL TO WEIGH IN ON LAWSUIT.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Hoping to clear the way for construction of the Decoro Drive bridge and the Rio Norte Junior High School, the City Council is expected to vote tonight to fight a lawsuit filed by environmentalists holding up grading in the San Francisquito Creek.

The council voted last week for city attorneys to intervene in the lawsuit, but a Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled that the action was flawed.

The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment filed the lawsuit against the project's developer, the Newhall Land and Farming Co. Members of SCOPE said they would picket outside City Hall before the 6 p.m. meeting to protest city intervention.

``It is so obvious that the city is using taxpayer money to protect this developer,'' said Lynne Plambeck, the environmental watchdog group's first vice president.

City Attorney Carl Newton dismissed Plambeck's concern that it could cost taxpayers as much as $200,000 for the litigation.

``It will not be a high-cost litigation,'' Newton said.

City officials said Monday the Decoro Drive bridge and the junior high school are desperately needed for residents of the Santa Clarita Valley, regardless of whether Newhall Land's 2,500-home West Creek project moves forward.

The bridge would link the Valencia Industrial Center to the north Santa Clarita Valley, a crucial part of the city's circulation plan.

Construction of the homes already has been put on hold by a ruling of the California Public Utilities Commission, which called for additional surveys of the valley's water supply.

Several weeks ago, a Ventura County judge issued a temporary restraining order sought by SCOPE and Friends of the Santa Clara River halting grading for the planned junior high school and bridge in the San Francisquito Creek.

The two sides have been fighting it out ever since. Most recently, Newhall Land asked the state Supreme Court to rule that Ventura County does not have jurisdiction in the case.

SCOPE filed the lawsuit in Ventura County because downstream farmers who rely on the Santa Clara River fear it would be adversely affected by the development, lawsuit contends.

Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer said the company welcomes the city's participation in the lawsuit. The developer's lawyers also have argued that the road and the bridge are needed for current residents, not just for families who would occupy the proposed homes.

The judge's decision centered on a dispute over the type of intervention authorized in a motion by Councilman Cameron Smyth, who apparently only called for filing a brief as a friend of the court. Such filings typically not allowed at the trial stage.

SCOPE's attorneys argued, and the judge agreed, that the motion as worded did not permit the city to become an actual party to the lawsuit.

Also at issue was timing of the council's action on March 26 at the end of a six-hour meeting. SCOPE leaders said they believe the council violated the state's open meeting laws by adding the issue to the agenda at the last minute.

Newton denied there was any violation, since the City Council will discuss and act on the issue again tonight.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) The developer blames the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment for delaying a local bridge.

(2) Newhall Land and Farming Co. officials say that an environmental group's litigation is keeping a park closed.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News

Map: Decoro Drive Bridge