LETTERS PUBLIC'S VOICES NEED TO BE RAISED.

I was glad to see local parents raise their concerns about the traffic speeds around Pico Elementary in the Dec. 18 Daily News.

When SCOPE commented on this project in the planning stages several years ago, we raised concerns about traffic as well as noise and air pollution that will be generated by this huge road. It seemed very inappropriate to site a school next to such a large road. It will only get worse if Pico Canyon is used as the back door for Newhall Ranch.

At the time this school was in the planning stage, SCOPE was chastised for bringing up these concerns. The developer said we were just trying to stop the project and the Newhall School District board berated us for supposedly slowing down a school.

However, all of this information was in the environmental impact report and available to both the school board and the county. It is time parents and our local boards and city and county governments start reading the EIRs and stop approving projects that obviously will become neighborhood nightmares in the future.

The public must get involved in these issues during the planning. Other areas of the county have formed homeowners associations that regularly review development proposals just as SCOPE does in the Santa Clarita Valley. Homeowners here should be monitoring county projects, writing letters and appearing at public hearings to help make our neighborhoods safe and livable in the future.

- Lynne Plambeck

President

Santa Clarita Organization

for Planning and the Environment