PANEL CONCEPT BACKED COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP STILL BEING DEBATED.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Mayor Jo Anne Darcy's advisory committee on managed growth is not cleared for liftoff just yet, as it will undergo further debate on membership and a final review by the City Council.

The new joint city-county committee - criticized this week for being stacked in favor of development supporters against environmentalists - received the City Council's unanimous support Tuesday night for concept only, but council members held off approving Darcy's proposed appointments.

A meeting agenda technicality prevented the council on Tuesday from voting on the appointments, but council members seized the delay as an opportunity to request additional appointments.

City Manager George Caravalho has recommended expanding the board to 21 members with council input.

Councilwoman Jan Heidt, for example, objected that proposed appointees so far lacked representation from young couples. The community needs that representation, Heidt said, because the many young families who have relocated to the area will become its future leaders.

Other council members and residents argued that Los Angeles County- governed communities in Castaic, Stevenson Ranch and Agua Dulce needed representation from their elected town councils, and that more environmentalists and locally-based water experts should be appointed.

Resident Skip Newhall argued that the number of proposed appointees so far ``tip slightly toward the developer's side.'' County and business owners tend to act from profit-driven motives, rather than concerns for the environment, water supply and schools, he argued.

``We have to start somewhere,'' Darcy told council members. ``It's not perfect yet. (The committee) can take more people . . . We set this up to be fluid.''

City Planning Director Jeff Lambert, a proposed appointee to the mayor's advisory committee, said officials also plan to utilize numerous ad-hoc subcommittees to assist the managed growth committee and perform in-depth studies of important issues, such as water supply, open space and school needs.

Those committees would further expand community input, he said.

With the exception of a Los Angeles County representative who has not been named yet, proposed appointees to the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Managed Growth so far include 10 men, five women and two male alternates who live or work within the city and unincorporated neighborhoods outside its borders. The candidates represent city and county planning staffs and elected government officials, developers, businesses, environmentalists, cultural arts supporters, local schools, water districts and home owners, officials said.

The delay in appointing the advisory committee's members also gives the City Council and staff more time to define the new board's role, which Darcy said has strayed from her initial vision.

The advisory committee's formation is part of a multipronged plan that Darcy introduced last month to study and develop policy for growth issues, as the city currently handles unprecedented residential development and annexations.

Darcy's approach also calls for a joint city-county general plan for the Santa Clarita Valley. Although that separate concept has received the City Council's unanimous support, it has generated debate about the role of the Mayor's Managed Growth Committee in that process.

City planning staffers hope to utilize the committee in developing guiding principles before hammering out a general plan with county officials, but council members - including Darcy - have had reservations.

Councilwoman Jill Klajic - who for years has supported a joint general plan to set unified development standards throughout Santa Clarita Valley - argued that a committee of such power should first require the council's majority approval and input.

Darcy said she envisioned two separate committees to study managed growth issues and work on a new city-county general plan.

PROPOSED APPOINTMENTS

Mayor Jo Anne Darcy has selected the following people for her Santa Clarita Mayor's Advisory Committee on Managed Growth, but critics contend the membership doesn't reflect the community. City officials recommend an expanded committee to include City Council members' appointees.

John Hoskinson, chairman

George Caravalho, city manager

Frank Ferry, councilman

James Hartl, county regional planning director

Darla Hoback, environmental/cultural representative

Jeff Lambert, city planning director

Patty Rasmussen, environmental/cultural

Bill Ratazzi, developer

Tom Schollenberger, water district manager

Doug Sink, Chamber of Commerce

Jeff Stevenson, Stevenson Ranch resident, homeowner representative

Laurence Strauss, former Hart High School principal

Barbara Wampole, parks advocate

Laurene Weste, councilwoman, alternate for Ferry

Diane Wilson, Sand Canyon resident, homeowner representative

Alternates:

Ed Redd, youth advocate

Don Rodriguez, Santa Clarita sheriff's captain

Box: Proposed Appointment (see text)

CAPTION(S):

box