CITY COUNCIL APPROVES RUNKLE CANYON DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Angie Valencia Staff Writer

The 461-home Runkle Canyon development won unanimous City Council backing this week despite some residents' concerns about traffic and pollution.

Approval came after a three-hour public hearing late Monday on the development, to be located south of Sequoia Avenue. It is scheduled for completion in late 2007.

``It's taken a long time to mature, but it finally got there,'' Mayor Bill Davis said. ``You have a lot of people who won't like it no matter what gets built there. You just have to get the best project you can possibly get with the least amount of harm.''

An environmental report found no negative impacts from the development, which will have 323 single-family homes and 138 homes for senior citizens, including 62 below-market units.

More than 90 percent of Runkle Canyon's 1,595 acres, being developed by GreenPark, will be preserved as permanent open space, providing recreational activities for the public. City officials also could decide to develop an 18-hole public golf course in the future.

Resident Patricia Coryell said the development's close proximity to Boeing's Santa Susana Field Lab should have ruled out its use for homes.

``It's a great plan, it just shouldn't be built in this canyon,'' she said. ``Anyone willing to live in a house at Runkle Canyon would be living in a nuclear waste pile.''

Council member Barbra Williamson dismissed those concerns as unfounded.

``That's so bogus. I get a little tired of it when they can't find issues relevant to the project so they bring out scare tactics,'' she said.

Angie Valencia, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com