HEALTHY CIVIC COMPETITION? SANTA CLARITA OFFICIALS CONCERNED ABOUT PROSPECT OF NEW NEIGHBOR.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH -- If cities are ``municipal corporations,'' it may be natural that they act like private corporations and compete for business.

Back in the late 1980s, Lancaster and Palmdale both tried to land the Antelope Valley Mall. Palmdale offered land and beat out Lancaster for the major shopping center, which has proven to be an economic driver for the city.

Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena also have a history of competing for business.

The question stands, is it good or bad for residents when neighboring cities compete?

Officials from Santa Clarita and town council members from communities west of the city will examine that question in the coming months, as the topic of forming a new westside city gets studied.

Santa Clarita officials already are voicing concerns about the prospect of having a new city on their border.

``I know that when we look at other cities, like Lancaster, Palmdale, like Burbank, Glendale, it's been problematic,'' said Gail Ortiz, spokeswoman for Santa Clarita. ``So we would have big concerns with the creation of another city adjacent to us.''

Dave Bossert, a member of the West Ranch Town Council who has championed a study on the possibility of incorporating communities west of Santa Clarita, said he welcomes competition.

``I think in our country, in our economy, competition is always a good thing,'' Bossert said. ``Hopefully, with competition, the consumer benefits. In this case, residents would benefit from that.''

Neighboring cities find many ways to use incentives to compete for businesses, including offering land, lowering fees, building infrastructure and making it easy to get a building permit. Since cities rely on sales tax revenue, having a good retail base is key.

Glendale Councilman Bob Yousefian said his city might not have offered such a generous package -- nearly $80 million -- for the Americana at Brand shopping center if not for competition from neighbors.

``Why did we go to Americana? Because we were looking at what was going on in Burbank, what was going on in Pasadena,'' Yousefian said. ``And they were taking a lot of our customers away, especially in Old Town Pasadena.''

But Yousefian, like Bossert, said that competition is good. It forces cities to keep their infrastructure upgraded, and make sure they have the services and amenities businesses need, Yousefian said.

Burbank and Glendale also complement each other, said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. Glendale has the regional or national headquarters of several corporations and a strong retail base with the Glendale Galleria, while Burbank is home to the newer Burbank Town Center and movie studios.

``When you have two cities side-by-side, then the question is, are they going to be friendly competitors or aggressive competitors?'' Kyser said.

An example of an aggressive competitor is Signal Hill, which has landed several auto dealerships -- huge sales tax generators -- in the last decade, antagonizing officials from Long Beach, whose city surrounds Signal Hill, Kyser said.

With the town councils of West Ranch and Castaic undertaking an initial study on the feasibility of incorporating several westside communities as a city, the Santa Clarita City Council has moved to undertake its own study.

The council on Feb. 13 will consider ordering a study on the possibility of annexing those communities, with the goal of distributing information from the study to residents. The council already has created a subcommittee on annexation.

``We think we can be more competitive as one city, rather than squabbling amongst ourselves to bring in small businesses, big businesses,'' Ortiz said. ``So we would have concerns, not to say that we're for or against, but we would have concerns.''

Bossert said that even if they compete, Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena all have thriving downtowns, and they cooperate in running Burbank's Bob Hope Airport. But other neighboring cities don't fare as well, he said.

``I think in some instances, if you have two cities that are isolated in a regional area, that might not be a good thing to have separate cities,'' he said.

In the end, it will be up to residents to decide if they want to form their own city, annex to Santa Clarita or remain under county jurisdiction.

[e-mail]

[phone]