Newhall Homes On the Horizon

Last week, after decades of maneuvering between courts and government agencies, the Newhall Ranch project won approvals for its first two subdivisions – Mission Village and Landmark Village – from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. The two communities will bring 5,500 housing units and 2.5 million square feet of commercial space to the Santa Clarita Valley. Moreover, it’s the first step in bringing to fruition the entire Newhall Ranch plan; if built, it will add 21,500 residential dwellings, 11.5 million square feet of commercial space, seven schools, 275 acres of parks and 60 miles of trails on 15,000 acres to the Los Angeles real estate market. Newhall Land & Co., the company that master planned and built Valencia starting in the 1960s, is now part of publicly traded Five Point Holdings in Aliso Viejo. Chief Executive Emile Haddad, who has been involved with the Newhall Ranch proposal for 14 years, said the next phases of the project – approvals for the additional subdivisions – should be easier to get because it now has state approval of environmental permits, and those relate to all of Newhall Ranch. “This allows us to move forward,” Haddad said. “It’s very important for us to keep going.” Controversial project Newhall Ranch was controversial from the start. As proposed, the development sits adjacent to Valencia between the 5 freeway and the Ventura County line near the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. Ventura County and its cities of Santa Paula and Moorpark, as well as Santa Clarita itself, opposed its size and cited potential traffic congestion, air pollution, school overcrowding and strains on infrastructure, water and resources. Environmentalists dogged the project as well, winning appeals in the courts to various government approvals and filing lawsuits. They pointed out potential dangers to the Santa Clara River’s 14 endangered bird species and the area’s air quality. In 2015, the state’s Supreme Court overturned the county’s approval that Newhall Ranch won 10-plus years ago, and determined that an environmental impact report prepared for the project by the Army Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife didn’t sufficiently analyze potential greenhouse gas emissions and protection measures for an endangered fish species. In response to the emissions issue, Five Point presented a plan to build Newhall Ranch as a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions community through measures within and outside the community. The California Air Resources Board, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and L.A. County’s Department of Regional Planning have given the plan their approvals. Five Point also changed when and how it would build bridges and stabilize banks to avoid contact with the fish during construction. Those new efforts were what the supervisors approved for the two villages at the July 18 hearing. But in their testimonies last week, the opposition targeted the developer’s ambitious and possibly one-of-a-kind zero-net greenhouse gas emissions community. David Warren, member of the conservation committee of the Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club, testified that there was strong opposition to the project in the thousands of letters in the Environmental Impact Report. “There are many greenhouse gases that remain unaddressed in this,” Warren said. Others pointed out what they felt were oversights, such as not addressing industrial and road surface emissions, whether people will buy electric cars even with the developer’s plan to provide subsidies, alleged insufficient water and increased traffic. However, numerous business groups, executives and a local labor union cited the benefits of pending jobs and potential future employers who would be attracted to a zero-net community and new industrial space. Bill Allen, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. in Los Angeles, called the two villages and the overall Newhall Ranch project potentially a “game-changing project for Santa Clarita Valley and L.A. County as a whole.” “This would be a powerful engine for prosperity countywide,” he said. Matthew Shepherd, chief financial officer for Scorpion internet marketing in Valencia, said most of his company’s 400-plus employees live in and near Valencia. “This is critical for long-term job growth and development; it’s critical to a thriving future in this part of L.A.,” Shepherd said. Sustainable incubator The numbers that Five Point estimates will result from its massive project are tempting to economic development officials and politicians: 60,000 permanent jobs and $800 million a year in state and local taxes. L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger of the 5th District, which includes Santa Clarita Valley, motioned to approve both projects at the hearing, saying “it’s been a long time coming” through changes Newhall was required to make to mitigate potential emissions and protect an endangered fish species during project construction. “They brought back a project I think is far better, that will be a model in the state, and I believe the nation,” Barger said. Net Zero Newhall is what economic development officials feel will be one of the lead job and company attractors to the area. Holly Schroeder, chief executive of the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp., said by incorporating clean technology, advanced transportation, digital city technology and other elements, Newhall Ranch will uniquely be able to attract companies in those spaces that will be able to work on building it from the start, rather than retrofitting an existing community. “We think that the project gives us a significant business attraction advantage from that ground-up opportunity,” Schroeder said. Construction will also attract jobs, she explained, as the typically temporary jobs that come to an area for building projects will really be permanent ones. “It will be an economic driver for decades to come,” Schroeder said.