CON: SHARK IS CIRCLING CASTAIC FIRMS IN SEARCH OF CHOICEST BITES.

Byline: Lloyd Carder

The city of Santa Clarita is in major spin mode, deceiving businesses in the Valencia Commerce Center about its annexation.

Small groups of businesses in the Commerce Center have been coerced to join the city's annexation efforts by promises of tax relief. The city is using the fact that it has not yet implemented taxes similar to Los Angeles County's energy tax placed on unincorporated area businesses. The energy cost reported by one of the larger businesses located in Castaic is about $25,000 per year. The removal of this tax is quite enticing and has drawn interest with businesses located within the Commerce Center.

A second carrot being placed before the businesses is the Shop Santa Clarita program to freeze out area business outside the city limits. By joining the city, these businesses would be included in the club and not be outsiders.

When these facilities were built, the cost per square foot was significantly less than within the city. I was shown a figure by a contractor with The Newhall Land and Farming Company of $38 per square foot of all city fees totaled that he does not pay in the county.

If one was to build a 60,000-square-foot building, the business would save more than $2 million in upfront costs. If we look at the county utility tax of $25,000 per year, it would take 91 years to equal the cost in the city.

The city claims the Commerce Center annexation would be a money loser for Santa Clarita with annual costs to the city at $250,000 a year, according to city spokeswoman Gail Ortiz. For what possible reason would any responsible municipality spend this kind of money in these hard economic times without a motive or agenda?

The city is most likely positioning itself to gather all the possible assets it can before imposing its own version of the energy tax. If not, the money being spent by the city can only come from city park programs and police services in the present city. This must be considered by Santa Clarita's residents a plain and simple business subsidy at the expense of the citizens of Santa Clarita so that the powerful can reap the political dollars for their next re-election.

As for the residents of Castaic, they remain shut out by the city since this annexation attempt covers only the Commerce Center. The mayor has floated the idea that they do not want the Castaic area to become a separate city and that a single city in Santa Clarita Valley is best for all.

Well, that argument holds little water, since no one in Castaic was seriously talking about incorporating before the city attacks on our small community. Much like a great white shark, Santa Clarita is circling, looking for the choicest bite to take, with little regard to the community it is attacking.

They condemn our neighbors to the east, stating they do not want a terrible situation like in Palmdale and Lancaster. I am sure those communities would be less than enthusiastic about comments like those stated by the city staff. If we are to use an example community outside our valley, one could choose Simi Valley and Moorpark - two different but separate communities that work well together and offer very different lifestyles to their residents. The puzzle piece section of the Commerce Center they are trying to annex carefully leaves out unbuilt areas owned by Newhall Land.

Santa Clarita has shown little concern for communities outside the city limits in the past. The best example that comes to mind is the daily gantlet Castaic parents must traverse to take their children to Valencia High School. Residents must skirt back streets, incomplete roads, road construction and redirected traffic from ill-planed projects into an already crowded Rye Canyon industrial area. Then these same parents play cat-and-mouse games with local law enforcement to drop off their children within a reasonable distance of classes due to the city's poor planning of streets to and around the school.

A proactive attempt by many of us from the Castaic Town Council was to sit down numerous times with the Santa Clarita Council, including the mayor, discussing these problems. After some polite agreement and acknowledgment of the problems, nothing was done.

During the Castaic Lake closing threat, Santa Clarita councilwomen Marsha McLean and Laurene Weste sent letters and testified on our behalf to the supervisors as concerned citizens, not Santa Clarita City Council members. No action or help came from the city or its staff during our efforts.

I would hope that the residents of Santa Clarita would rise up to ask their council to justify this $250,000 expenditure each year for nothing. It's your money.