RIO NORTE GRADING TO RESUME RULING PUT OFF TILL MONDAY.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Grading on the Rio Norte Junior High site will be allowed to continue over the weekend after a federal judge declined Friday to immediately rule on a request to temporarily stop the project.

Several environmental groups had asked the court to halt construction along the banks of San Francisquito Creek while federal officials review a plan to protect the endangered arroyo toad.

U.S. District Court Judge Lourdes Baird is expected to rule Monday on the request.

``By then, it will be too late,'' said Lynne Plambeck, first vice president for the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, one of the plaintiffs. ``The destruction will have been done.''

Representatives for The Newhall Land and Farming Company, which is building the school, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which granted permits for the work, declined to comment on the case. Nancy Sandberg, a biologist hired by environmentalists, discovered the toad in April along the bank of the San Francisquito Creek, where developers had previously assured federal agencies there was no sign of the endangered species. A few weeks later, Sandberg reported finding the toad in the Santa Clara River.

The Corps of Engineers was scheduled to begin a review of Newhall Land's river and aquatic-protection plan last month. Officials said permits for the work would be suspended if they found that the construction would seriously disrupt the arroyo toad.

Grading began a week ago, after county officials approved permits for the Newhall Land project. However, the company was prohibited from grading for the Decoro Drive Bridge, which city officials say is a crucial link needed to prevent gridlock.

SCOPE has sued Newhall Land, claiming that there is not enough water to supply the 2,500-home West Creek project and that construction of the school would harm endangered species in the creek.

Dirt from the school site will be moved to the east side of San Francisquito Creek, where homes are planned, and used to fill in wetlands. The dirt will be moved via a haul route built through the environmentally sensitive creek.

Plans for West Creek are on hold until the company can prove there is enough water in the Santa Clarita Valley for the new homes, and until resolution of the lawsuit, which is expected to go to trial in October.

Rio Norte, originally scheduled to open this fall, is now expected to open the following year. School overcrowding has become the norm in Santa Clarita as the rapidly growing population threatens to overwhelm the valley's schools.