OPPONENTS GET EXTRA TIME ON NEWHALL RANCH.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Tuesday extended the public comment deadline for the 25,000-home Newhall Ranch project, giving opponents a total of more than six months to review the county's biggest proposed development.

The public has until Feb. 11 to submit written comments to the Regional Planning Commission on the environmental impact report for the community, planned for 12,000 acres west of the Golden State Freeway and south of state Highway 126.

``I'm very pleased,'' said Lynne Plambeck, first vice president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, which opposes the development. ``That will give us the time to get prepared and that will give consultants the time they need to put together some really good comments. With a project of this size (the Regional Planning Commission) really needs to hear from everyone.''

Ventura County supervisors, who had unsuccessfully pleaded with Los Angeles County planning officials for more time to review the project, were pleased to hear about the extension.

``That's a big help,'' said Frank Schillo, chairman of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. ``It's going to give us more time to go into more detail about our concerns.''

Ventura County officials had asked Los Angeles County planners to extend the public comment period from four months to six months to give them more time to review the project's environmental impact report, which stands about 3 feet tall. The comment period began in August.

The commission refused, saying the four-month public review period was sufficient time to scrutinize the project. On Tuesday, the commission was forced to extend the Dec. 5 deadline to Feb. 11 after it continued a public hearing for opponents to Jan. 16 and set another for Feb. 18 for Valencia developer Newhall Land and Farming Co., which proposes to build the massive project.

The commission also agreed to accept written comments until seven days before the developer's rebuttal. If the Feb. 18 hearing is postponed, the public will have more time to submit comments.

``They wanted to extend the public comment period as long as testimony from the public was being taken,'' county planner Lee Stark said of the commission's decision to extend the deadline.

``They wanted a cutoff so the applicant has a chance to respond to all the written comments. We thought one week before (the developer's public hearing) would provide ample time for the applicant to prepare a response.''

Written comments can be sent to the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission at 320 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.