BUILDING A NEW COMMUNITY PLENTY OF DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SLATED FOR VALLEY.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - In the coming years, people will eat, sleep and shop in places where a pack of special mules once meandered and where explosives were built and tested for five decades.

A handful of big development projects are on the way in the city of Santa Clarita, but one - destined for a nearly 1,000-acre polluted property in the center of town with one failed housing development in its wake - will dwarf the others.

Three developers are bidding for the Whittaker-Bermite property in bankruptcy court with plans to develop it.

``The sky's the limit,'' said Lisa Hardy, the city's planning manager. ``It offers a wonderful opportunity to do (something) unique and innovative. It will distinguish this community from others in the Los Angeles area.''

While officials ponder the lure of tourist magnets such as a hotel and conference-convention center or a major regional sports facility, they envision the city's biomedical and entertainment industry base expanding into the centrally located spot.

The city and the new owner will devise a plan for the 996-acre site, which sprawls over nearly four times the domain of Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Four major roads will crisscross the property, bounded by Soledad Canyon, Golden Valley and San Fernando roads. Nearly two decades after Bermite stopped manufacturing dynamite, bombs, flares, fireworks, ammunition rounds and rocket motors, cleanup of the site's contaminated soil and groundwater is under way. The major contaminant left behind is perchlorate, a chemical residue from rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems.

In March, an official from the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the state agency overseeing the decontamination plan, said it will take many years to rid the site of pollution and render it buildable. Construction could be seven to 10 years away.

The Commons

On pasture land at the portal to the valley along Interstate 5, the last four-legged denizen of the Smiser Mule Ranch quietly grazes. His comrades once pulled floats in the Tournament of Roses parade.

A local developer plans to build a 600,000-square-foot business and retail center featuring a hotel; upscale shops, including a two-story anchor store; restaurants, a fitness center and 1,000 condos on 37 acres that encompass the plot. Monteverde Development Co. might ask city officials to waive the customary three-story height limit and issue a conditional-use permit for 10-story hotel and office buildings.

``All would agree this is going to be a gateway project for the city,'' said Jeff Lambert, a former Santa Clarita planning chief and planning consultant for Monteverde, which bought the pasture in 2004. ``It's intended to be in step with the city's more recent focus to include mixed-use development.''

The project is in the early planning stages, but Carrie Rogers, the city's economic development manager, said the high-visibility location is sparking interest. Tenant leases have not been signed yet, but upper-end steakhouses, well-known upscale Chinese food establishments and nightclubs have made inquiries, she said, refusing to divulge more.

Preliminary plans depict plazas lined with retail shops and outdoor dining spots. The existing Santa Clarita Athletic Club would be demolished; its owners plan to build a 55,000- square-foot fitness center in the new center.

A comprehensive plan will be needed to solve flooding issues for the site - nestled between Wiley Canyon Road and Interstate 5 north of Calgrove Boulevard - which is situated in a flood zone.

Tentatively called The Commons, the project would be scrutinized by Santa Clarita planning commissioners before appearing on the City Council agenda, probably in a couple of years, Lambert said.

North Newhall specific plan

To the north and northeast of the downtown Newhall area - where the city has sunk $8 million into reinvigorating a rundown 50-block area - officials are looking for ways to tap the potential of a mostly vacant 200-plus-acre plot.

They want to draft a specific plan similar to the one for downtown to alleviate the hodgepodge of vacant land, homes and commercial lots in the area.

Casden Properties, a Los Angeles-based developer, owns nearly half of the plan area - 95 of the 213 acres. The parcel is zoned for a business park, but Lambert, a consultant to the developer, said Casden has always planned a residential project there. The company will help pay for the specific plan.

The project area is bounded by the Circle J Ranch neighborhood, a Metropolitan Water District easement and Newhall Creek. It includes the gateway to Placerita Canyon at Arch Street and 12th and 13th streets.

Gate King

An industrial and business park planned for Newhall - sidelined by lawsuits lodged by environmental groups - may begin grading in late summer or early fall if no further obstacles emerge.

A revised water supply analysis ordered by the court is being circulated. Planning commissioners will review the water section of the environmental report on May 2.

The 160-acre Gate King industrial park is planned on Sierra Highway, south of San Fernando Road, and would include light-industrial and commercial buildings. Undeveloped areas would provide park land, trails and open space dedicated to the city.

In October, Santa Clarita planning commissioners approved Burrtec Waste Industries' plan to build a state-of-the-art recycling facility in the complex. The city is relying on the 178,200-square-foot center - which could process up to 2,000 tons of material a day - to help meet a state mandate to divert 50 percent of trash from landfills.

Sewers, storm drains, underground utilities, streets and lights will be built as the lots are graded, said Mark Gates, who owns the development.

Planning commissioners will re-examine Burrtec's plans in September, and if the plans are reapproved, the company could proceed with the project shortly thereafter.

Westfield Valencia Town Center 

Plans are under way to expand the mall, adding 540,000-square-feet of office space, retail shops, entertainment and restaurants.

Two parking structures are planned to free up the parking lots for the addition.

Macy's and Nordstrom would be desirable tenants, Hardy said.

Molding a city

Paul Brotzman, the city's director of Community Development, said some of the projects are very real, while others are still in the conceptual stage.

Gate King has been approved, and though insurance and cleanup funds are assured for Bermite, the years needed for planning and the unpredictability of the economy make it hard to fix a date when development could begin, he said, noting it could be five or seven years hence. Some things are certain, however.

``We have to look at how all of the things tie together, how they fit,'' he said. ``How do we create multiple different villages, neighborhoods with an identity to come together to create a village.

``(And) not only how we create the jobs-housing balance in the Santa Clarita Valley, but how do we create a jobs-housing balance on a smaller scale in different parts of valley?''

One of the challenges facing city officials is deciding how the proposals fit into the overall concept while preserving open space and maintaining the community's much-touted quality of life.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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