PUC RULING MAY SLOW DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SEEKS ADDITIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT DATA.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The California Public Utilities Commission finalized a ruling Wednesday that may slow the pace of growth in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Valencia Water Co., which is owned by The Newhall Land and Farming Company, must submit additional environmental data to the PUC about its water management plan, which details plans to expand its service area by several thousand homes.

``I'm elated,'' said Lynne Plambeck, vice president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment. SCOPE teamed with Ventura County and the Sierra Club to challenge Valencia Water Co.'s assertions that it can deliver water to the new homes.

``It is the first time an outside agency has taken a hard look at the water supply in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' Plambeck said. ``Before now, all of the agencies have just accepted what the water agencies have told them.''

The ruling contributed to a downturn in profits in this quarter for the

developer, and helped to derail plans for a record year, according to Newhall Land's quarterly report published Thursday.

Valencia Water Co. cannot expand its service area before the CPUC completes its review, which will delay groundbreaking and construction of about 4,445 homes, most of which are located in the North Valencia and West Creek developments.

Environmentalists are concerned that hundreds of new homes are being built without enough water to serve them.

SCOPE and the Sierra Club have long been critical of water agencies' claims of adequate water supplies, which are based on the assumption that the valley's full entitlement of water from the State Water Project is reaching the area. Studies show that just 50 percent of the Castaic Lake Water Agency's entitlement can be shipped, stored and treated for use in the valley.

Newhall Land and Valencia officials said they planned to submit the detailed environmental impact reports already certified by city and county agencies on each of the affected developments to the PUC.

``It's our understanding that we don't need to compile a new document at this time,'' said company spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer.

But Plambeck said that would not fulfill the PUC's requirement.

``The city and county officials have clearly said that they did not take a hard look at these EIRs, assuming the CPUC would,'' Plambeck said. ``They've been playing that circular finger-pointing game for years. It's one of the reasons we filed the complaint.''