HOUSING MAY WAIT FOR SCHOOL PANEL WANTS CASTAIC HIGH OPEN BEFORE DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- The completion of the first phase of the Newhall Ranch development could be tied to construction of Castaic High School in the wake of a meeting Wednesday of the county Regional Planning Commission.

The commission asked The Newhall Land and Farming Company to work with the Hart Union High School District to ensure that Castaic High School is open before residents start moving into Landmark Village, a 1,400-home project that will be the first phase of Newhall Ranch development.

The high school is to be built by another development company. But the worry is that if Castaic High is not yet open when residents start moving into Landmark Village, their teenage children will attend an overcrowded West Ranch High. Eventually, there will be at least one new high school in the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch development.

"We're committed to sit down and talk to (Hart district officials)," said Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land. "I think it's premature to speculate on what might occur, but we told the commissioners that we will work with L.A. County and the high school district and see what might be appropriate."

Environmentalists also spoke at the Regional Planning Commission meeting.

Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, said after the meeting that Newhall Ranch is an example of urban sprawl.

"This is the beginning of a rolling tank, a rolling bulldozer ... that's not going to stop unless we try to change it now," she said.

Pat Willett, spokeswoman for the Hart district, said officials meet regularly with Newhall Land respresentatives.

"Right at the moment, it's not a lack of funds that's holding (Castaic High) up; it's the availability of a building-ready site," Willett said.

The commission asked Newhall Land to revisit other aspects of the Landmark Village project. The project is due back before the panel in the coming months, but no date has been set.

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