TURMOIL DEFINED COUNCIL AREA POLITICS SAW CLASHES.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - City leaders certainly did not see eye to eye on a great many things in 2001.

But all, Republican or Democrat, developer or environmentalist, agree it was an incredibly tumultuous year in city politics. And no one expects it to calm down any time soon.

Three seats on the Santa Clarita City Council are up for grabs in the April election. Five residents plan to challenge the two incumbents, Mayor Frank Ferry and Councilwoman Laurene Weste.

``Everyone expects the election to be incredibly nasty,'' said council candidate Duane Harte, a Newhall resident. ``I hope it won't be, but the potential is there.''

Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, a member of the city's first City Council, will retire in April.

As 2001 ends, the council is deeply divided. Ferry has pledged to reduce the tension brought on by the battles at City Hall, but with the election looming, some say that is impossible.

``It's been a grueling year,'' said Councilman Cameron Smyth, echoing the other council members. ``It was incredibly tough on all of us, personally, politically and professionally.''

Although the council members fought each other and the city staff ferociously on any number of issues during the past year, they didn't hesitate to unite against external threats.

``None of us had a break,'' Weste said. ``We've all worked incredibly hard, and answered some tough questions for this community.''

While the council members wrangled over Santa Clarita's trash contracts, they fought as one against Transit Mixed Concrete's planned sand and gravel mine in Soledad Canyon.

Both issues remain unresolved - the city's first audit of the local trash haulers is due to be completed by the end of January, while the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will take up the mine proposal again in February.

Perhaps one of the City Council's greatest achievements in 2001 was to put an end to the 16-year-long dispute over whether to block Valley Street at Calgrove Boulevard.

After a heated debate, the council split, 3-2, voting to close the road to all traffic, pleasing neither of the sides involved in the dispute.

Construction of permanent barricades has begun at Valley/Calgrove - and the community has seemed to accept the council's decision and the dispute has faded.

``The community sees the decision as equitable and fair,'' Ferry said. ``That tells me that we did our job.''

But the resolution to the Valley/Calgrove dispute is the exception, rather than the rule, at City Hall in 2001.

Candidates vying for a council seat have already promised to make the turmoil over the last year an issue during the campaign, with each saying they would work to make council meetings more civil.

In fact, all of the council challengers say their effort is motivated by the community's dissatisfaction with the current council members and the impact of area's rapid growth on residents.

Former Mayor Jan Heidt, who retired from the council in 2000, decided to mount a comeback after Weste spearheaded an attempt to fire City Manager George Caravalho.

``People are frustrated,'' Heidt said. ``They don't feel listened to. Everything seems like it is decided beforehand.''

Marsha McLean, a candidate from Newhall, agreed, adding that she would help the residents of Santa Clarita ``take back the council.''

``There is a real sense of annoyance out there, that the decisions are being made behind the scene, without listening to the people who come to the council meetings,'' McLean said.

However, others said the clashes and resulting frustration were a unavoidable result of Santa Clarita's transformation into an established city.

``The community and the city are experiencing growing pains,'' said council candidate John Grannis, a Saugus resident.

The discomfiture is due to the congested roads, overcrowded schools and the scores of other problems caused by the city's infrastructure lagging behind the frantic pace of growth, Grannis and Michael Hainlien, a candidate from Canyon Country, agreed.

``I've seen this area boom and all the while sat on my hands complaining,'' Hainlien said. ``I thought it was time that I did something about solving the problems.''