RIVER DEVELOPMENT DEFENDED CITY, NEWHALL LAND SAY WATER ADEQUATE.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

The city of Santa Clarita and Newhall Land defended approval of the developer's River Village subdivision in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, arguing there is enough water to support the 1,089-home subdivision, a claim four environmental groups dispute.

The project, formerly called Riverpark, is proposed on 695 acres north of the Santa Clara River in Saugus.

The Santa Clarita City Council approved the project in May 2005, and the Sierra Club, Friends of the Santa Clara River, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Water Impact Network sued a month later, finding fault with the project's environmental impact report.

Among the complaints -- the city and developer The Newhall Land and Farming Company ignored key concerns, including encroachment on the river's flood plains and the air and water pollution the groups say the project will create.

But oral argument before Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs mostly centered on water supply. The plaintiffs contested the inclusion of 41,000 acre-feet of disputed water in the project's EIR.

The annual allocation, which the Castaic Lake Water Agency purchased in 1998, falls under the Monterey Agreement, a water deal under state Department of Water Resources investigation. Also, the water impact network and the Planning and Conservation League have sued the CLWA over the transfer.

Plaintiffs' attorney Babak Naficy said the CLWA transfer from Kern County, which makes up nearly half of the agency's annual supply, should not be counted.

``The 41,000 acre-feet transfer is not final,'' he said after the hearing. ``The city should not rely on the continued availability of the 41,000 acre-feet because DWR's review is still ongoing.''

Newhall Land spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer disagreed -- the water is still being used by the CLWA.

``No California court has invalidated the use of that water,'' she said. ``It's not pertinent to the River Village. We're very confident the EIR for River Village will be upheld.''

CLWA General Manager Dan Masnada questioned the plaintiff's argument.

``Because of litigation, we'll presume you're guilty until you're proven innocent,'' he said. ``The water is available. The case has less to do with the water than their ideas about growth.''

But Naficy said there were no injunctions against the 41,000 acre-feet of water because CLWA had argued in an earlier case that halting the transfer would disrupt supply for current residents.

``It's to avoid hardship to existing customers,'' he said. ``But no court -- trial court or court of appeal -- said yes, you may rely on the 41,000 acre-feet for planning purposes.''

A ruling is expected in the coming months.

To win city approval for River Village, Newhall Land offered some 318 acres of open space from company-owned parcels in the city and 389 acres of riverfront property within the development.

It also offered more than $22 million in right-of-way dedications and bridge fees for the city's 8.5-mile east-west Cross Valley Connector, which will bridge state Route 126 and the Antelope Valley Freeway at Golden Valley Road.

``We're focused on doing the land development work right now so we can bring the Cross Valley Connector into completion and get the community going,'' Lauffer said.

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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