NEW TOWN ON HORIZON AT NEWHALL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN OUT ON 1,444 HOMES.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- The developer on Monday began circulating environmental documents for the first phase of the 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project that has faced criticism since initially proposed more than a dozen years ago.

This initial phase will have 1,444 homes, commercial and office space, an elementary school, a fire station, a community park and an extension of the Santa Clara River Trail.

The Newhall Land and Farming Company calls each phase a village, and the first phase is named Landmark Village.

``For many of us that have worked on it for a number of years, it's quite exciting to now be on the actual implementation of one of our villages,'' said Marlee Lauffer, a spokeswoman for Newhall Land.

Landmark Village will be located between Highway 126 and the Santa Clara River. The entire Newhall Ranch runs from behind Six Flags California's Magic Mountain west to the Ventura County line.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the first phase in January. Construction could begin next year and homes could be available for sale in 2009.

The project has faced opposition for years.Some environmental groups still oppose adding new homes to an area inhabited by many animal and plant species.

``We're in a hole on traffic and one of the ways to get out of the hole is to stop digging it. And Newhall Ranch is just going to continue the major traffic problems that we have,'' said Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment.

Newhall Land plans to deal with additional traffic by widening Highway 126 from four to six lanes by the time the entire Newhall Ranch project is finished in about 25 years.

Newhall Land hosted a pair of events last week for a total of about 400 community members to see the design of Landmark Village, Lauffer said. Participants included potential homebuyers, equestrians eager to find out about horse trails in the project and others simply interested in the development.

Now that the environmental report for the first phase has been released, the public will have 60 days to comment on the report.

The project will have buffers between development and the Santa Clara River that will reach up to 700 feet in some locations, according to Newhall Land.

Ron Bottorff, chairman of Friends of the Santa Clara River, would like to see at least a 500-foot buffer zone throughout. The Santa Clara River is home to a number of species that need to be protected, he said.

``You have to allow an adequate buffer zone between the riparian zone and the development, and we're taking a look at that now,'' he said. ``We doubt very much if an adequate zone has been allowed.''

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(ran in SAC edition only) Newhall Ranch