ENVIRONMENTALISTS LOSE ROUND JUDGE OKS HAUL ROAD ACROSS CREEK TO BUILD SCHOOL.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem and Kathleen Sweeney Staff Writers

SANTA CLARITA - Two environmental groups lost their bid this week for a federal court order seeking to block a construction road across San Francisquito Creek, a dirt path for use in construction of the much-needed Rio Norte Junior High School.

U.S. District Court Judge Lourdes G. Baird late Monday denied a request from the groups for a temporary restraining order to prevent The Newhall Land and Farming Company from hauling dirt from the Rio Norte site across the creek, home to the endangered southwestern arroyo toad.

``We're disappointed, but we will redouble our efforts. Our goal is to protect our resources for our community,'' said Barbara Wampole, vice chairwoman of the Friends of the Santa Clara River, which joined the Center for Biological Diversity in seeking to block the haul route.

Newhall Land had argued that shifting tons of dirt across the creek rather than hauling it on public roads to another location would get the school built faster, company spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer said.

``The haul route is essential for grading within the time frame to keep state funding for the school,'' Lauffer said.

Newhall Land is providing the land to the William S. Hart Union High School District for its fifth junior high as part of a housing and retail development in North Valencia. There remain numerous legal issues to be resolved before any other construction begins, but Newhall Land agreed to separate the school from the larger project.

Judge Baird found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had conducted extensive visits to the property and concluded that the toads were not present in the dry creek bed. Environmentalists have argued that the toads have been sighted in the creek and the Santa Clara River it feeds, but that they are difficult to find because they burrow beneath the sand.

``The judge said they failed to demonstrate the merits of their claim,'' Lauffer said.

Still, further legal action is anticipated to block the construction road, Lauffer said. Newhall Land's attorneys were notified Wednesday by a lawyer for the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment that a request was filed Tuesday to reinstate a temporary restraining order charging that Los Angeles County did not properly issue permits for the entire development. That motion is scheduled to be heard Thursday in Santa Barbara Superior Court.

SCOPE attorney Alyse Lazar would say little about the latest legal strike other than that she hoped to ``have something worked out between the parties'' by Thursday.

Wampole said her organization's effort never has been to block construction of the school, but to ensure environmental safeguards during construction to protect wetlands and endangered species.