The L.A. County Regional Planning Commission approved staff recommendations to allow a development with more than 1,500 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space on the west side of the Santa Clarita Valley to move forward Wednesday.
The Newhall Land and Farming Co., a subsidiary of Five Point Holdings, has modifications for two plans now headed to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors for final approval: Entrada South and Valencia Commerce Center, or VCC.
The commission unanimously approved the staff recommendations, which now put the project before the full Board of Supervisors on Nov. 18 for final approval.
“Today’s unanimous approval marks an important step forward in bringing the Valencia by FivePoint vision to life,” according to a text message Wednesday from Eric Morgan of FivePoint, on behalf of CEO Dan Hedigan. “We appreciate the commission’s support of our goal is to deliver a wide mix housing for families in the Santa Clarita Valley while building vibrant, sustainable neighborhoods that strengthen our region for generations to come. We are deeply grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support from local residents, business and civic groups, and community leaders.”
The plans being presented Wednesday were changes within the already-approved development footprint of what was approved as part of Newhall Ranch, according to the developer: the Entrada South project is west of The Old Road on both sides of Magic Mountain Parkway; and the VCC project is west of Interstate 5 and The Old Road, north of State Route 126, and east of Commerce Center Drive and the Chiquita Canyon landfill.
“Housing continues to be one of the most pressing issues facing Los Angeles County. These two projects in the county’s third largest economy are intended to expand access, provide stability, and help meet the diverse needs of our residents while also creating a significant number of jobs and economic growth,” according to an emailed statement Wednesday from 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, sent by Helen Chavez, her director of communications. “I remain committed to ensuring that these projects reflect responsible growth, preservation of natural open space areas, and a high level of sustainability to support the long-term well-being and quality of life for the communities I represent.”
Newhall Land said there were four significant aspects to the changes, which also had a chance to improve the number of affordable homes in the area.
In addition to formalizing the development terms, Newhall Land is trying to: “negotiate a 12% affordable housing program, including 7% of the units onsite and 5% offsite; onsite affordable units for rental; offsite may be for rental or ownership; finance up to $62 million in infrastructure improvements,” according to Newhall Land’s presentation.
Newhall Land officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Entrada South plan going to the supervisors now calls for: 1,574 attached townhome and detached condominium units; a total of 115.1 acres of open space; 20 commercial lots with 730,000 square feet of commercial space, including hotel, office, and retail space; almost 20 acres of private recreation lots; and one 5.4-acre public park lot, on approximately 328 acres.
Approximately 7% of those units are required to be affordable rentals, which the developer indicated would likely be for senior housing.
Planning commissioners stopped short of mandates for the builders on the project to pay prevailing county construction wages for the development, which Newhall Land attorneys mentioned has been a huge obstacle for building affordable homes in the past. Such a demand would add more than $95,000 to the cost of each home, according to regional economic-impact studies mentioned by Newhall Land’s representatives.
The VCC project focused on the commercial aspects of the development, with the office, commercial and light industrial project to subdivide nearly 329 acres into 61 nonresidential lots and 43 open space lots. The lots will provide a total of 3.4 million square feet, roughly 78 acres, of nonresidential uses — and an overall total of 195.9 acres of open space.
Newhall Land on Wednesday used the nearby Mission Village, which has seen more than 1,200 homes sold since its approval, as a gauge of the success the company expects with this next phase.
The Coalition for Responsible Equitable Economic Development, or Creed LA, a union labor support group, said there were deficiencies in the project’s environmental impact report, with respect to how the potential damage to the wildlife corridor would be mitigated. These concerns represented two of the three opposition letters filed, against more than 40 letters of support.
An opposition letter also came from the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, a local environmentalist group that sent an 11-page letter that argued there were numerous problems with the county’s analyses and outreach process for the project.
Supporters of the project mentioned that in addition to adding many much-needed homes added to the local supply, as well as an affordable component, there is a reduced building footprint and a net-zero designation. The “net-zero” label refers to zero greenhouse gas emissions from the project’s construction and operations, according to the developer.
The current plan heading to the board calls for a reduction of 151 residential units and an increase of 280,000 square feet of commercial floor area as compared to the 2017 approval given.