NEWHALL LAND PLANS TO BUILD 10,000 HOMES; CRITICS FEAR NEGATIVE IMPACTS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

The Newhall Land and Farming Company has set an aggressive development pace with the goal of building more than 10,000 Santa Clarita Valley homes over the next seven years.

Market permitting, the aim is to build out the company's master-planned community of Valencia - largely farmland and rolling hills until the mid 1960s, when ground was broken for Newhall Land's ``new town.''

For the developer, dizzying projections hint at a market that will allow the completion of one of the largest and longest-term developments in California engineered by one builder.

For those who assess the impacts of rapid growth in a midsize city, there is some dread. They see overcrowded schools, too few roads, a limited water supply and a lack of libraries, parks and other public services.

``If we're going to develop Valencia at that pace, we have to develop the complete picture of that community - the schools, churches, roads, shopping, infrastructure,'' said Bob Lee, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School district. ``The whole thing has to come. Instead of just focusing on capitalizing on the residential marketplace and hoping that everything else comes along, you have to plan.''

Lee, who relocated recently from Moreno Valley in Riverside County, said he prefers a well-planned, methodical approach to development. Newhall Land's 10,000 planned homes by 2005 represent perhaps half of the homes proposed in the Santa Clarita Valley in the next few years, a growth pattern that already is overcrowding schools, Lee said.

``One of my greatest fears is making sure we have adequate schools to house kids, and that the kids get a quality education,'' Lee said. ``But my underlying, greater concern is that I have come from a community that grew so fast that the identity of the community was totally lost.''

Newhall Land's approach to completing Valencia's residential development includes building ``lifestyle villages'' - communities built around a lake or a golf course to draw people who otherwise might not consider the area, Tom Lee, Newhall Land's chairman and chief executive officer, said at a recent meeting of shareholders. Tom Lee and Bob Lee are not related.

Despite fears expressed by Bob Lee and activists fighting to limit growth, the demand is strong for new homes.

This year alone, 17 sets of different size and style homes will be available. In the first quarter of this year alone, sales were 26 percent ahead of 1997, which itself was a growth year, Tom Lee said. Traffic in model homes is up 62 percent compared to last year.

And growth goes beyond commercial development. The continued strong economy also will allow Newhall Land to maximize its commercial portfolio through both development of retail centers and by selling off existing properties. In industrial development, Newhall Land has its sights on developing 50 to 100 acres each year.

The city of Santa Clarita is monitoring Newhall Land's plans as well as those of other developers.

While the city has little control over most of Newhall Land's projects because they lie outside Santa Clarita's jurisdiction in unincorporated Los Angeles County territory, the two governments do work together, said Jeff Lambert, director of the city Community Development Department.

Lambert said the city will pressure developer agreements with school districts and other public entities to reduce the impacts of growth.

Roads are of particular concern, he said.

``Catching up is the key,'' Lambert said. ``We inherited a deficit when we formed the city 10 years ago, and we cannot require a developer to fill that void.''

Newhall Land, however, will be required to ensure that highways are in place to handle traffic from the 10,000-plus homes planned. An expansion of Newhall Ranch Road will be required, as well as a link from Decord Drive to Copperhill Drive, Lambert said.

``It's a concern that we will spend a lot of time on,'' Lambert said of traffic circulation and the impacts of growth.

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PHOTO Construction is proceeding apace on the upscale Avignon housing development along Magic Mountain Parkway in Santa Clarita.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News