TRACT ANNEX ISSUE COMES TO A HEAD.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Residents of Canyon Country's outlying Stonecrest tract should find out soon if they will vote on whether their neighborhood becomes part of the city of Santa Clarita.

The agency that oversees boundary changes in Los Angeles County did not know as of Friday whether enough valid protests had been lodged against the proposed annexation to trigger a vote. One resident who canvassed the neighborhood, collecting signatures on protest forms, said he is not out to defeat the measure but to force a vote.

``My motivation is to raise the annexation to a ballot issue,'' Steven Huerta said. ``A majority of residents I went to and collected signatures from said they were waiting for someone like me.''

Some residents of the 631-home community who favor annexation said others spread misinformation to scuttle the process, but several people said the matter should be decided by affected homeowners. Some voice concern their taxes would increase and dispute the city's claim they will be safer because the city provides more law enforcement then the county does for surrounding communities.

Lower Stonecrest resident Bob Crawford is concerned the city will increase the fees residents pay annually for a landscape maintenance district.

The homeowners association cares for shared greenery in Upper Stonecrest, while the county oversees landscape maintenance in Lower Stonecrest. When the residents of Lower Stonecrest seemed to favor annexation several years ago, it was with the proviso the county would continue to provide the maintenance at what they felt was a fair cost.

Senior city planner Kai Luoma said when the process started the county was willing to continue maintaining the districts once they were annexed, but that changed.

Martin Zimmerman, head of unincorporated services for the County Administrators Office, disagrees.

``It doesn't sound reasonable to me that the county would continue to provide such services after an area annexes,'' he said.

While the Lower Stonecrest maintenance fee is capped at $700, most residents pay about $450. Some worry the city will hike their rate to the $700 ceiling, which could trigger a cost-of-living increase of about 3 percent a year.

``I would like the city to be more flexible on the issue of the (Consumer Price Index) so it would be no more than 2 percent per year, or strike it completely,'' Crawford said. ``I think there is a way the city could do it to make it more win-win.

Luoma said the city would take over the operation now run by the county and would continue to charge less than $700 as long as maintenance costs are covered.

``We will continue with the $453 as long at it pays the bills,'' Luoma said. ``If fees can't go up to match increases in inflation, services will decrease because funds will not be there to cover an increase in the cost of services.''

Last year voters in Lower Stonecrest approved an increase in the fee in line with the Consumer Price Index.

The sum would be compounded. In 10 years, with an average increase of 3 percent a year, the fee would rise $240. Luoma says it would be offset by savings of about $200 a year in utility-user tax savings. The county charges the tax, the city does not.

``In that same period they would have saved over $2,000,'' Luoma said. ``And that's assuming there are no increases in the cost of utilities, which we know there will be.''

Huerta voiced concern over streetlight and storm-water fees, which differ in the city and county. Annual streetlighting fees are $50 in the city and $5 in the county, and storm-water fees are $24 in the city, zero in the county. Herta said earlier information provided by the city indicating fees would increase contradicts more recent information.

Luoma said the $24 charge cannot go up without facing a citywide vote.

Some question whether a city versus county address spells a difference in law enforcement protection. Huerta noted the community is a low crime area, and said he told people if they were being burgled or assaulted that deputies who patrol the city would respond because Stonecrest is within their jurisdiction.

Seventeen deputies patrol the 50-square-mile city by day, 16 deputies by night. Five deputies patrol the 500-square-mile unincorporated area day and night, an area that includes this section of Canyon Country as well as Castaic, Stevenson Ranch and the remote stretch north to Gorman.

Sheriff's Lt. Mike Dunkel said the city pays for expanded services not included in the county area. These include a five-member Community Interaction Team that ensures parolees and probationers comply with set terms, four motorcycle deputies who enforce speed limits and respond to community requests for targeted enforcement, and the seven-member anti-gang COBRA unit. In February, the city re-established the VITA program, which provides 18-week character-building sessions for teens headed for trouble.

City officials have touted their multimillion-dollar fight against the 56.1-million-ton gravel mine planned in Soledad Canyon - a stone's throw from Stonecrest - as a good reason to join forces with the city.

Lower Stonecrest resident Al Bermudez, who said he walked the neighborhood a couple of years ago urging neighbors to turn down annexation, credits officials for ``doing everything they possibly could'' to halt the mine, but says enough is enough.

``I think it's out of the city's hands. Now they're using scare tactics,'' he said. ``I wish they would come out clean and say why they want us to become a part of the city of Santa Clarita.''

A ruling issued Feb. 10 by the 9th District U.S. Circuit of Appeals said a consent decree between the county of Los Angeles and Cemex Inc. allowing for the mine was negotiated in good faith and is ``fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable.''

On Feb. 22, the Local Agency Formation Commission held the final hearing on the annexations for Stonecrest, Northpark and California Canyons. No protests were lodged against the Northpark or California Canyons annexations - which have added 6,000 residents to the city's approximately 170,000 - but 303 protest letters were sent from Stonecrest. That amounted to about 21 percent of the area's approximately 1,100 eligible voters.

If written protests are received from 15 to 50 percent of residents in a proposed annexation area, the matter goes to a vote. If more than 50 percent protest, the request is killed; if less than 15 percent protest, the application is approved.

After comparing signatures on the protests with those on file, the county Registrar-Recorder's Office verified 247 names of the 303 submitted. Stonecrest residents must be registered to vote in Los Angeles county to cast a vote on annexation. On Friday, LAFCO further scrutinized the forms.

``All signatures with no date or bearing a date prior to the notice of publication shall be disregarded,'' said Larry Calamine, executive director of LAFCO. He would not say whether additional protests were struck.

If a vote is warranted, LAFCO would adopt a resolution and approach the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which would set the process in motion, said Kathy Salama, a spokeswoman for the Registrar-Recorder's Office. The election date would be determined by filing deadlines.

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com