DEVELOPER REAFFIRMS SCHOOL-LAND PLEDGE CASTAIC CAMPUS ON TRACK FOR 2010; GOLF COURSE OUT.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS  Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- There will be a school, but there won't be a golf course.

After much debate and community concern, SunCal Co. assured Castaic's Town Council on Wednesday night that its commitment to provide land for a high school, set to open in fall 2010, still stands.

What the developer won't do is build the planned golf course in its Northlake development, which has sparked some ire. SunCal acknowledged that a golf course would not be profitable but promised other recreational amenities instead.

Castaic High School was supposed to be open this school year, but it has faced delays, first in 2002 when residents rejected plans to build it near Hasley and Sloan canyons. The Northlake site was the second choice, and the William S. Hart Union High School District is committed because it has completed the lengthy process of conducting environmental studies and winning state approval.

A conflict with the local water board over water available for the 3,900 homes planned in Northlake and an architectural redesign moved the open date to 2010.

Most recently, debate over canceling plans for the golf course threatened further delay. But by Wednesday night, the furor over the golf course appeared to have fizzled. Another golf course is scheduled to open in early 2008 in an unrelated development in nearby Hasley Canyon.

SunCal spokesman Ray Pearle said the company wants to be open with its plans to avoid the rumors that have fueled controversy over the development.

``We are committed to delivering a high school to the community so it is built by 2010,'' Pearle said.

He also said that even though the golf course won't be built, negotiations to provide land for athletic fields are under way.

SunCal plans to have a graded site prepared for the school construction by March 2008, pending county approval of its environmental impact report, Pearle said.

The report must be approved by January to maintain the current timeline.

County planning officials said they could help expedite the process.

Some council members expressed concern that the high school is dependent on SunCal's development of Northlake.

``We begin to feel like we are held hostage,'' Town Councilman John Kunak said. ``If anyone speaks up against this development then they don't want a school.''

Others said they felt handcuffed by the circumstances, and robbed of the opportunity to look at the development independent from the school.

``Now we are being forced, in a short emergency period, to connect the need for a high school with the review of a development,'' council member Joanne Carras said.

But Hart board members were quick to remind the council that since Proposition 13, public education is not allowed to increase taxes to build new schools.

``Don't think for a second these two things aren't linked,'' said Hart trustee Steve Sturgeon.

SunCal's developer fees will be matched by state funding to cover the $130 million construction costs for the high school. This is the only way new schools are built, Sturgeon said.

``It is an absolute marriage.''

Parents just want action.

John Zerring, a Castaic Elementary parent, said he and the 25 other families he represented are tired of waiting.

Borrowing their elementary school-age children's mascot -- The Castaic CUBS or Castaic United to Build a School -- the grass-roots parents group spokesman said he was ``mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.''

``If you ask me, all of the parties involved in this matter share the blame,'' Zerring wrote in a handwritten note during the meeting.

Zerring has a fifth-grader who would be in the high school's first class.

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