OPEN AND SHUT CASE BARRED ROAD CREATES ILL WILL.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Glenda Thompson Bona and Rich Goss are on opposite sides of the barricades blocking Valley Street and Calgrove Boulevard.

While both live in Happy Valley and attend the same church, Goss can swing through the private gate on Valley-Calgrove to get to the freeway - while Bona has to take Valley Street to get to the Lyons Avenue on-ramp.

The dispute over the barricades and the homeowners' association-maintained gate has split this community right down the middle, residents said - and made it very difficult to have friends on the other side of the issue and the gate.

``Everyone has an opinion on the gate and the barricades,'' Bona said. ``I've said time and again that my friendships come first and are more important than any issue.''

Bona is the spokeswoman for Citizens Against Barricades, which is suing the city to force it to take the barricades down. The lawsuit argues that it is illegal for the city to barricade a public road but allow certain homeowners access to it.

``I wish I could convince her of the error of her ways,'' Goss said. ``But we recognize what our differences are and agree that our humanity is bigger than this tremendous dispute.''

Goss was the president of the Hidden Valley Homeowners Association in the late 1970s, when many of the homes were being built. He worked with county officials to arrange the gate and set up the barricades in return for land to be used as a drainage basin.

The Hidden Valley Homeowners Association and the Alamos Lane Homeowners Association have also sued the city, hoping to maintain the gate and prevent the city from opening the road.

Many fear that the additional autos that will use Valley-Calgrove to get from the freeway to downtown Newhall will threaten the safety of pedestrians and motorists, while ruining the rural nature of Hidden Valley.

``Sometimes, when you live in a community, you have to give up some convenience for other's safety,'' Goss said. ``That is what is at issue here.''

But even though Bona and Goss could not be farther apart on the issue of the gate and the barricade, they've managed to remain friends and look forward to running into one another at church and parties.

``We both choose to overlook our differences,'' Goss said. ``That's part and parcel of being a friend, being a part of a community.''

But not everyone has remained cordial in the heat of this debate. Internet message boards are peppered with insults from one side to the other and back again. Many residents didn't want to talk about the dispute, saying they didn't want their families and children targeted by the other side.

``It has gotten so nasty, in the way that only neighbors can be to each other,'' Bona said.

The Santa Clarita City Council is scheduled to take up the issue of the barricades on Feb. 27. The Santa Clarita Planning Commission recommended that the road be opened - once $25,000 worth of stop signs, speed humps and traffic circles are installed on Valley Street. The traffic calming devices are intended to keep the road from becoming a major route to and from the freeway.

The City Council has voted five times to keep the road barricaded.

Many council observers expect that Mayor Laurene Weste, Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy and Councilman Cameron Smyth will vote to keep the road closed, with Councilmen Frank Ferry and Bob Kellar dissenting.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe will hear arguments on both lawsuits March 27.

Both Ferry and Kellar have said they believe the only way to heal the division in Newhall over the gate is to have a judge make a decision on the merits of the case and the law, free of politics.

However, Darcy, Weste and Smyth have said they favor the council settling the dispute once and for all, whatever the judge rules.

``All we want the city to do is follow the law,'' Bona said.

Of course, Goss sees things differently.

``The gate stands as a commitment,'' Goss said. ``A sign of government standing by its promises.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Jane Schmidt walks her dogs through the disputed barricades blocking Calgrove Boulevard and Valley Street.

(2) A motorist makes a U-turn in front of the barricaded section of Calgrove Boulevard that has neighbors turning to lawsuits to resolve their differences.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News