SETTLEMENT KEEPS TRAIN STATION PLAN ON TRACK.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

Auto Service Plus and Santa Clarita reached a settlement Wednesday over a lawsuit that threatened to derail the city's $7 million plan to build another Metrolink station and widen Railroad Avenue.

``We're very excited to get this settled and behind us. It's a major opportunity to have a major public improvement in downtown Newhall,'' Assistant City Manager Ken Pulskamp said. ``It's time to fire up the bulldozers and start getting some work done down there.''

In May, Auto Service Plus sued the city, claiming it had not done sufficient studies of the project and that road alterations would damage the business by boxing it in between two major thoroughfares: San Fernando Road and Railroad Avenue.

In the settlement reached Wednesday, the city agreed to pay $25,000 toward a gate to provide access to Auto Service Plus from Lyons Avenue and to speed the project through the city's process for a permit.

Fred Gaines of Reznik & Reznik, the attorney for the car dealership, said the new access on Lyons will be safer for customers, who will be able to enter from a street with less traffic.

The city also agreed to help Auto Service Plus turn its nearby Walnut Street lot into additional parking for the business.

The Metrolink station will be built on the 1880s site of the Santa Clarita Valley's original train depot at Railroad Avenue near Market Street. The project, to be financed with federal, state and county grants, will include a park-and-ride lot, the widening of Railroad Avenue and the construction of meandering sidewalks.