RIVER LAND DEAL NEARS COMPLETION.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

VALENCIA - The city expects to close a deal this week on the $1.6 million acquisition of a lush 296-acre expanse of the Santa Clara River and two tributaries.

Escrow papers could be signed by Thursday on a deal the city has been working on for 10 years - public ownership of the river, its South Fork and a piece of the San Francisquito Creek stretching through the center of Valencia, said Joe Inch, Santa Clarita's park development coordinator.

``We now have our first major open space area right in the center of the city, and we have the trails going all the way around it,'' Inch said Friday.

On Saturday, the city will dedicate a new section of the Santa Clara River Trail north of the river, running along the Bridgeport development under construction. The trail follows the new parkland that was acquired with $796,000 from the state's Habitat Conservation Fund and a matching sum from Los Angeles County's Open Space Bond Act of 1996.

The land is a valuable wildlife corridor, Inch said.

``It's a major addition to the river habitat, it will keep the wildlife habitat open to the migrating birds and other critters,'' he said. ``I saw deer in the river last week.''

The city hopes to build hiking and equestrian trails along the bottom of the normally dry waterways and to add signs explaining the habitat, he said.

Treated waste water, already pumped into the river near the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and Bouquet Canyon Road, eventually will be pumped upstream from a second treatment facility near Magic Mountain.

Mayor Laurene Weste said the city is moving toward connecting its four communities - Newhall, Saugus, Valencia and Canyon Country - with a network of trails.

``The whole idea is to interconnect urban areas where people physically reside to trails in the forest, along the river and from one neighborhood to the next,'' Weste said. ``People can ride from their neighborhood to a natural setting.''

The acquisition runs west toward an abandoned 1898 railroad bridge that will be incorporated into the trail system, Weste said.

There are about 30 miles of trails crossing the city, extending from Canyon Country to Valencia and Newhall, Weste said. Plans will take the trails north into the Bouquet Canyon area of Saugus and toward the city's Central Park.

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Photo:

(color) A work crew finishes installing landscaping on the Bridgeport paseo, a new trail section alongside the Santa Clarita River.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer