CITY LOOKS TO EXTEND BORDER; TOWSLEY CANYON ANNEXATION WOULD ADD RECREATION LAND.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The city is preparing to spread its jurisdiction west of the Golden State Freeway for the first time, enveloping 62 acres already owned by Santa Clarita into its legal boundaries.

The City Council has unanimously supported the annexation effort, which requires Santa Clarita to submit an application to the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission.

The process should take six to seven months and come before LAFCO, which oversees land use issues, early next year, said Jeff Lambert, planning manager for the city.

``It does give us a beginning on the other side of the freeway,'' Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy said. ``If we can annex land, we will. We want to increase the city to the original size we proposed.''

Councilwoman Jill Klajic added that while LAFCO has resisted efforts by the city to expand its sphere of influence, the Towsley Canyon annexation faces no opposition and is even supported by large landowners such as Warner Bros.

``They'll be hard-pressed to come up with a reason for us not to annex,'' Klajic said. ``We own land there. The other landowners are willing.''

In fact, the city excluded three parcels between The Old Road and the freeway from the original 700-acre annexation proposal because one landowner was completely opposed to the government interference, Lambert said.

The city bought the Towsley Canyon property, which borders 4,000 acres of land owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, because officials envisioned it as a much-needed recreation area for residents.

It also prevented the land, purchased for $2 million in April 1995 from the conservancy, from being developed into a commercial area similar to the Valencia Marketplace.

The conservancy benefited from the sale by using the city money to pay off notes on some of its properties and completing the purchase of the Mentryville oil well site and surrounding land owned by Chevron Corp.

The adjoining city and conservancy recreational area has been named the Santa Clarita Woodlands Park. The ultimate plan is to link trails along the Santa Clara River through Towsley and East Canyon to the south, ending in O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills.

As for the Warner Bros. land, the 230 acres likely will be sold to a developer, Lambert said. Any proposals for the land are unknown at this time, he said.

Klajic said that the city's recent spurt of annexation efforts, including North Valencia and Whitney Canyon, are particularly beneficial to the city because the planning and development processes have not been completed.

That means city staff members will work with the developers and the City Council has oversight, Klajic said. The city in the past has battled developments approved by the county Board of Supervisors, which sometimes are below city standards. Typically, developments are built under county supervision and eventually annexed into the city.