KLAJIC TO TAKE ON NEWHALL RANCH.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

When the county Planning Commission meets today to consider the fate of the massive Newhall Ranch project, it's going to get an earful from Santa Clarita Councilwoman Jan Klajic.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct Klajic to ask the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission to delay action on the mega-project until the city's six-page list of concerns are met.

Santa Clarita wants promises on traffic conditions, dedications of open space land, development standards that conform to city policies and ``justification for the dramatic increase in residential density.''

Less a housing tract than a city built from scratch, the project includes 25,000 homes, business parks and schools. Planned for 12,000 acres west of the Golden State Freeway, the project would abut the Ventura County line and could generate enough emissions to cloud the air and damage crops across the Santa Clara River Valley, officials said Wednesday.

Planners in Ventura County fear the project will send smog and dust flowing their way over the Los Angeles County line.

The developer's environmental report, currently under review by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission, ignores air quality in Ventura, said district planner Chuck Thomas.

``They didn't acknowledge that the project would affect Ventura County at all,'' he said.

But officials from Newhall Ranch said Wednesday that their 50-pound, 3-foot-high environmental report adequately covers the topic of air quality to the west.

``The environmental impact report does fully address air quality for the region based on federal and state standards,'' said Newhall Land and Farming Co. spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. ``We fully analyzed all impacts associated with this project.''

The planners and the public will appear today at a 9 a.m. hearing at the Hall of Records before the county Planning Commission. The panel will accept public comment on the project until Feb. 11.

Thomas said construction alone, which could take 25 years to complete, is bound to impact air quality in Ventura County.

``We don't know the exact degree, but it's an extremely large project,'' said Thomas. ``The wind blows back and forth up and down the Santa Clara River Valley, so the emissions will blow into Ventura County.''

The report from Ventura planners is the second since the county Board of Supervisors pledged $79,000 toward planning and legal costs to scrutinize the project. Last month, transportation analysts reported that they believe the development will send 15,480 car trips to Ventura County every day, about 7,740 less than the number predicted by the developers.