Fast growth drives new focus on traffic; firms, residents seek solutions for urban pressures.

Businesspeople and residents can agree on one thing in the Santa Clarita Valley as more people settle in the ,area and more buildings go up: City officials need to be careful that the gridlock that plagues much of Los Angeles doesn't develop there.

Since 1990, the population of the City of Santa Clarita has grown by more than 50,000 to over 162,000 residents. The greater Santa Clarita Valley, which includes unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, is home to over 250,000 people. The city boasts a three percent annual growth rate, the highest of any city with a population over 150,000 in Los Angeles County. City officials estimate that the population could more than double by 2025, ballooning to over 350,000 people.

Growth will come in the form of 60,000 homes over the next two decades, and the city now has more than 1.5 million square feet of commercial space either approved or pending approval.

Santa Clarita has marketed itself as a business-friendly city with plenty of residential developments for migrating families, but some people are worried that too much growth at once may lead to the congestion that's driven people out of the San Fernando Valley and the rest of Los Angeles.

John Hoskinson, president and CEO of Gruber Systems Inc. in Valencia, said the increase in traffic over the last few years in the Santa Clarita Valley has helped make it hard for the company to expand in the region.

"I don't have anything new to add about traffic, other than it is what it is, and it's not good," said Hoskinson. "It makes it hard for us to attract people to come any distance to work here. Employees need to be very close, within a 30 to 40 minute drive, in order to not get burned out."

He said that the freeways are still open enough to make it manageable for some employees from the northern end of the San Fernando Valley to commute to Santa Clarita, but everyone's commute, particularly those fighting freeway traffic from the Lancaster area, is increasing.

Hoskinson has worked for Gruber since the early '80s, when he lived in Redlands.

"I commuted daily, it was horrible, but now it's not even possible," he said.

Some of Gruber's non-local employees drive from the northern end of the San Fernando Valley and others come in from Lancaster or Palmdale, and traffic is heavier every year. Even if traffic improves, however, Hoskinson said retaining employees is difficult.

"Then you've got the housing problem," he said. "The cost of housing has gotten so bad everywhere that it has affected our ability to attract and retain employees."

Traffic and housing, will likely force the company to expand out-of-state, and Hoskinson said it's also been difficult to find a large available space in which the company could expand in Santa Clarita.

"Our ability to grow is quite limited in California, most of it will probably be in the Texas and Florida markets," he said.

Gruber employs about 165 people in Valencia, its newer offices in Texas and Florida are so far staffed with about 16 people each.

Larry Mankin, president and CEO of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, said growth has completely transformed the area.

"Where Magic Mountain Parkway and McBean Parkway are now 10 or 12 years ago was all farm land," said Mankin. "Now you've just plopped tens of thousands of new homes there and a huge amount of new commercial development."

Marlee Lauffer, vice president of marketing and communications for the Newhall Land & Farming Co. which developed the master-planned community of Valencia now part of the City of Santa Clarita, said that traffic worries every prospective resident, even if they're moving to a master-planned community.

"When you ask people, it's certainly often an issue that comes up, we all know that it's an issue of interest for everyone," said Lauffer. "The most critical part of the traffic solution will be the cross-valley connector, which will run from the east to the west corridors."

"Certainly there's also the I-5 freeway, and we're working with a coalition of civic and business leaders to make sure that state and federal tax dollars return. There's a project being studied that includes plans for a dedicated truck lane and an HOV lane," Lauffer added.

Lauffer said that traffic doesn't have to get worse just because the Valley is growing, however.

"(Newhall Land) is focused on doing more to attract employers," said Lauffer. "We've built about 18,000 homes and created about 50,000 jobs, so we think there can be a job/housing balance."

Lauffer said the approximately 1,500 companies in the Valencia Gateway development include companies like Princess Cruises, Southern California Gas and Advanced Bionics that provide high-paying jobs to local residents. The median household income in Santa Clarita as of 2004 was $76,127. In comparison, the median household income for Los Angeles County was $53,239.

Still, business leaders are counting on the city to do whatever it can to lessen traffic throughout the valley.

The cross-valley connector is an eight-and-a-half mile road connecting the city between the Golden State (I-5) freeway and State Route 14. It will be either six or eight lanes wide depending on the section of roadway.

"It's going to affect the whole system of city roadway, especially roads which run parallel to the cross-valley connector, like Soledad Canyon Road, where it will have a tremendous impact," said Andrew Yi, city traffic engineer for Santa Clarita.

Yi said the section of the road running from the 14 to Soledad Canyon Road already has four open lanes, which will eventually be widened to six lanes. The city is waiting for an additional $17 million and results from environmental reviews before it can complete construction on sections from the Golden State Freeway to Copper Hill Drive and from Bouquet Canyon Road to Soledad Canyon Road.

By the time the connector is complete, city officials are hoping that it will help to reduce 5,000 hours of vehicle delays. Each lane on the connector is designed to handle 9,000 vehicles per day, Yi said, meaning capacity on the connector will be anywhere from 45,000 to 60,000 vehicles, depending on the number of lanes.

Yi said the city is also aggressive on other traffic mitigation projects, like increasing the capacity of the Bouquet Canyon Bridge and widening Bouquet Junction.

"One other thing we do is traffic signal synchronization. All of them are coordinated every three months," said Yi. "This is one thing that's more aggressive than any other city in L.A. County, I think."

This week, Yi said, the city council will decide whether to authorize payment to a consultant who would put together a study on improving the road systems for non-motorized users like bicyclists and making transit stops more convenient for residents.

"We want there to be less dependency on single-occupancy cars, so we're looking in both direction to try and improve transportation and make things flow better and reduce the total number of trips," Yi said.

JONATHAN D. COLBURN

Staff Reporter