VILLAGE DILEMMA VAL VERDE COULD LOSE CASTAIC LINK 1,500 RESIDENTS WONDER ABOUT POLITICAL FUTURE.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

VAL VERDE -- If Santa Clarita ever annexes Castaic, the quiet town of Val Verde in the canyons west of the community could be the odd man out.

At issue for this unincorporated town of 1,500 people, bordered by a landfill and rolling ridges, is government representation.

Val Verde currently holds two seats on the nine-member Castaic Town Council, an elected panel that advises the 5th District county supervisor, Michael D. Antonovich, and acts as a local civic association to flag the attention of county government.

But with anxieties about future governance driving the town council to consider annexing Castaic to the city of Santa Clarita or even incorporating Castaic as its own city, where does that leave Val Verde?

``We'll just have to make sure to get somebody to pay attention to us to get something done,'' said Gina Nordenstrom, a longtime Val Verde resident and community activist. ``We have to jump up and down to get attention because we're small.''

The village, founded as a resort for African-Americans when segregationist policies kept them out of other areas, doesn't share a border with Castaic, which prevents annexation. Nor does it have the financial resources necessary for cityhood on its own. The only notable local business is a small market.

``We just don't have enough tax base,'' Nordenstrom said. ``Less than 600 homes won't pay for much.''

In a letter to Santa Clarita leaders last month, the Castaic Town Council requested more information on annexation. Council President Lloyd Carder had said the council is researching when more local government may be needed in the Interstate 5 truck stop that has turned into a growing suburb of 23,000.

Bruce Van Wetter, a Val Verde representative on the council, said it's too early to speculate on what government would best serve the area. Any proposal for annexation or cityhood could take years.

``(Santa Clarita) City Council representation by the community of Castaic or Val Verde would obviously be a concern,'' he said in an e-mail. ``With limited interest (in) annexation by our community, a discussion of the most effective form of city government is premature.''

Nordenstrom said Val Verde has benefited from the current town council, which established a forum and a community-standards district to guide local development.

Val Verde, which has few streetlights and sidewalks and no sewers, is being eyed by a Utah-based developer for a 254-home subdivision and a strip mall as land becomes increasingly scarce -- and valuable -- in the Santa Clarita Valley.

``It ensured he wouldn't be building 500-square-foot lots,'' Nordenstrom said of the community standards district. ``We are too little to be overcrowded.''

Jo Anne Darcy, a former Santa Clarita councilwoman and a senior deputy to Antonovich for nearly 19 years, has seen the debate over Val Verde's future from both sides.

Darcy recalled pitching the idea of Santa Clarita annexing Val Verde to Antonovich about 12 years ago, but was rebuffed. ``He didn't seem agreeable to it. We just left it alone.''

Darcy said county government has been attentive to Val Verde; she cited the local park operated by the Department of Parks and Recreation. But as longtime residents move out and younger people move in, they'll likely demand more municipal services.

``I'm sure they'll like to fall under the city of Santa Clarita,'' she said. ``But if you start bringing more housing and shopping centers, it's not going to be a rural community.''

And annexing Val Verde would not be cheap. Local infrastructure would have to be upgraded, Nordenstrom said.

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Val Verde could be left out of local politics if nearby Castaic is annexed by Santa Clarita or establishes its own new city.

David Crane/Staff Photographer