NEWHALL RANCH TO GET OWN SHERIFF'S SUBSTATION.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Local sheriff's deputies patrol a 650-square-mile region that's home to roughly 190,000 people. The Newhall Ranch project would add 70,000 more residents, so Sheriff Lee Baca asked for a new substation.

The additional sheriff's station would be built on land within the 12,000-acre Newhall Ranch project under a proposal by Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the Santa Clarita Valley.

``Within the past week, the sheriff contacted my office to seek help in obtaining a new location within the development,'' Antonovich's motion read. ``An agreement was reached between the two parties that will result in (Baca's) needs being addressed when the development goes forward.''

In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors gave Newhall Ranch final approval Tuesday. With 21,615 homes, the project will be the largest single planned development in Los Angeles County history.

Under Antonovich's deal, The Newhall Land and Farming Company, developers of Newhall Ranch, will set aside five acres in the project on which to build a sheriff's substation. Newhall Ranch is planned for what is now rolling grassland and oak stands west of Golden State Freeway and along the Ventura County line.

Already, deputies from the sheriff's Santa Clarita Valley station are responsible for patrolling a territory stretching from the junction of the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways to Agua Dulce and as far north as Gorman. As the Newhall Ranch project is built over the next 30 years, the Santa Clarita Valley's population will swell to levels greater than the current substation - with 170 uniformed personnel - can serve.

``Newhall Land will work with the Sheriff's Department during the subdivision process to identify and locate a site of about five acres within Newhall Ranch,'' said company spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer.

``We'd be willing to pay our fair share . . . of the cost of the facility, based on the service area that's determined by the Board of Supervisors,'' Lauffer said.

For example, if the station's territory were to be everything west of the interstate and the Newhall Ranch development accounted for half the population served, then the company would pay half the costs.

In a letter Monday to the Sheriff's Department, Newhall Ranch Senior Vice President James Harter said the developer is willing to fund its ``equitable fair share'' of the cost of building a station.

``The Newhall Land and Farming Company is willing to work with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department during the future subdivision process of Newhall Ranch to determine an appropriate location for a sheriff's station,'' Harter said in the letter.

Dave Vannatta, planning deputy for Antonovich, said that the late Sheriff Sherman Block had taken the position that Santa Clarita Valley station deputies would patrol Newhall Ranch, a project first proposed in 1993.

Baca has a distinctly different opinion from his predecessor and, to that end, sought out Antonovich to intervene on the department's behalf, Vannatta said.

Newhall Ranch's plans already call for fire stations, parks and libraries to be built among the thousands of new homes, and Baca argued that a sheriff's station should join those public facilities.

The department and the developer will work out among themselves how to split the costs, Vannatta said. ``Prior to issuance of any building permits, they will issue a memorandum of understanding outlining what facilities . . . will be provided,'' he said.