DISTRICT RESOLUTE ON PROJECT; BETTER DEAL WANTED ON SCHOOL-RELATED COSTS.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

Officials from the Hart high school district will make a last-ditch pitch this morning to the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission, which is expected to approve a 458-home project they say will short them $1.3 million.

The commission is set to approve the project on its consent calendar this morning, but school officials plan to ask for more time, said Lysa Saltzman, one of the Hart district's attorneys.

``We would truly hope that they would consider further review,'' Saltzman said Tuesday.

If the plans are approved today, the project will likely go to the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 23, said George Malone, the county planner assigned to the Decoro project. In the past, the school district has said it will sue to get a better deal from the developer.

The commission indicated at its June 30 meeting its intention to approve a zoning change for Decoro, a 70-acre project proposed by The Newhall Land and Farming Company's Valencia Co. division. The houses and condominiums would be built one mile north of Santa Clarita city limits, northeast of Valencia High School. The project also includes paseos, private recreation areas and a new type of storm-water filtration pond.

On Monday, Robert Lee, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, testified on the same issue at the Regional Planning Commission's hearing on another Newhall Land project, the 24,000-home Newhall Ranch.

The issue was the same as with Decoro. The current proposal, which is backed by the county and the developer, would obligate Newhall Land to pay the state-required $1.84 per square foot of development toward the construction of the schools that would serve the students in the new homes.

Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land, said the company is continuing to negotiate an agreement with the Hart district that would cover all its developments in Valencia and Newhall Ranch. If that larger agreement is reached before Newhall Land pulls building permits for Decoro - still nine to 12 months away - it will replace the interim Decoro agreement.

Lauffer disputed the school district's characterization of the state requirements as a minimum, explaining that it would be similar to the recently constructed Valencia High School.

``They aren't a minimum; they're a fully equipped high school,'' she said. ``But there's things above and beyond that the school district is looking for that are quite expensive.''

The district says the state amount is far too low, leaving it and taxpayers to pick up $1.3 million in costs for library books, auditoriums, an aquatics center and even overhangs to shelter students from the rain and heat.

A letter was also sent Tuesday to the commission from the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, criticizing the county for requiring Decoro to fully pay for sewers, water pipes and roads but not for schools.