Mountains Conservancy Broadens Its Mission

There’s a sign posted along Placerita Canyon Road announcing plans to build hundreds of homes on a mountainside just east of Santa Clarita. Someone has spray-painted the words “No Way” over the posting.

It’s an indication of the frustration some feel about the flurry of new development in an area where the population has grown by about 21% in 10 years.

“There is an increasing sentiment among the community that they don’t want to see the foothills and mountains developed,” said Joe Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “But the folks who have the most at stake in terms of protecting open space don’t really have political control.”

That’s what Edmiston hopes to influence. Late last month, with the blessing of the Legislature, the conservancy’s board voted to expand its territory to include a 57,000-acre area known as the Santa Clara River Watershed.

That means the conservancy will be able to buy property slated for development there and preserve it as open space. The change also gives the conservancy, best known for acquiring large tracts of wild lands in the Santa Monicas, more clout in local land-use decisions.

The conservancy is a state agency established to preserve open lands from development. The board can ask for state funds to purchase property and expand its territory with the permission of the Legislature.

Paul Edelman, chief of planning and natural resources for the conservancy, said the agency has expanded its boundaries over the years because opportunities to purchase land cheaply or accept land donations have come up.

But some question expansion, claiming that the agency has not yet finished its work preserving the Santa Monica Mountains, even though several properties are available for purchase.

Patricia Bell Hearst, chairwoman of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., said shewants to see the conservancy purchase all the available land in the Santa Monica Mountains before moving on to other areas.

“The [conservancy] has had 20 years to protect an integral zone of the Santa Monicas from development. This has not been done,” Hearst said. “We have properties that have had willing sellers for 10 to 15 years.”

Hearst said she is most concerned about the preservation of properties around the dirt portion of Mulholland Highway. If the road is ever paved, she expects it will allow new development in the mountains.

Slicing through the Angeles National Forest, the Santa Clara River drainage provides an important wildlife link between the northern and southern parts of forest, environmentalists say. As Southern California’s only undammed, free-flowing river, the Santa Clara provides a home for several endangered species.

Hearst questions whether habitat protection is the purpose behind the board’s move to expand.

“I find it difficult to accept a linkage of habitat when we have freeways and development in between,” Hearst said, noting that the Antelope Valley Freeway cuts through the national forest. “I don’t know how many of God’s creatures can safely cross a multilane freeway.”

Freeway underpasses and drainage tunnels already provide a passageway for large animals, Edelman said. By preserving open space, the conservancy hopes to increase the number of ways animals can migrate across the watershed.

The conservancy has targeted the area for protection of wildlife habitat, trail links, scenic views and protection of endangered species.

“The habitat depends on that river for their very existence,” said Jonathan Baskin, a professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly Pomona.

One development the agency is monitoring is PacSun of Pasadena’s plan to build 636 homes just south of the Antelope Valley Freeway near the Fair Oaks Ranch housing development. Known as Golden Valley Ranch, the developers currently are seeking approval from the Santa Clarita City Council. The project is in an unincorporated area of the county, but the city of Santa Clarita will probably annex the land.

Edelman said the conservancy would like to buy the property.

“If the price was right, it’s something we’d have to look at,” Edelman said. If the price is too high, Edelman said, the conservancy will try to persuade the developer to build a smaller project--with a maximum of 25 homes--and encourage the sale of additional land to public agencies.

John Jameson, executive vice president at PacSun, said he doubts the agency’s presence will have any impact on the size of his project because it has no zoning powers.

A second conservancy target, Edelman said, is a proposed gravel mine in Soledad Canyon by Southdown Inc. Santa Clarita officials are fighting that project.

The project has been studied for 10 years, said Brian Mastin, environmental affairs manager for Southdown. It is poised for approval by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which owns the mineral rights. Mastin said he doubts the conservancy will have much impact.

“The environmental review process has been about how we will mine the land, not about whether or not we will mine the land,” Mastin said.

Edmiston sees the issues differently.

‘This is one the fastest growing regions in California,” he said. “The future of the Santa Clara River Watershed is at stake.”