Will Newhall Ranch Prevail?

After more than ten years of discussing, planning, litigating and circumscribing with governmental regulators and citizens alike, Newhall Land and Farming Company found itself a new foe, just as the first "decisive" LA County Board of Supervisors public hearing meeting was set to take center stage. At stake was the issuance of the projects very first development permit, comprised within the largest single project ever proposed in LA county.

On February 19th the Los Angeles City Council expressed their disapproval of the Newhall Ranch project citing several non-mitigated impacts, most of which concerned traffic. The council voted unanimously to "censure" the Newhall Land project and accused the lead agency, L.A County Board of Supervisors, of not sufficiently assessing the jobs-to-housing ratio. They contended that the development will create further negative impacts on the already congested San Fernando Valley freeways as they foresee thousands of future Newhall Ranch residents commuting to work southward. On February 26th the L.A. County Board of Supervisors scheduled a public hearing for approval of the first of four proposed housing "Villages" - however did not take action on it and now probably won't do so until late May.

Interestingly enough, the City of Los Angeles actually admitted through a council motion, crafted by councilman Richard Alcoran, that they never reviewed or commented upon the county’s environmental reports prior to the close of the county’s comment period. In fact, they are just now claiming that the negative impacts upon the City of Los Angeles have never been fully analyzed nor mitigated. The language of the official motion can be read here.

The fact remains that Newhall Land planners have been addressing the issue of jobs-to-housing, water issues — as well as other concerns over traffic, air quality, etc. — since the development was introduced in 1996. It is expected that the Newhall Ranch development will create approximately 20,000 jobs at buildout, forecasted to occur sometime in the next 15 or so years. The number of projected jobs would amount to about 1 job per household.

The entire Newhall Ranch project makes up 21,000-units on 12,000-acres and sits just 14 miles east of Fillmore. The first of four villages is called Landmark Village and entails 1,444 residential units, 1 million square feet of commercial and mixed uses on about 1,000 acres.

For information on all aspects of this proposed project including shopping venues, social entertainment, nature trails, parks, environmental issues and more, you can visit the official Newhall Ranch project website here.
I personally found the site to be quite interesting in that it contains conceptual representations of various components of the project in 3-D animation. The short movie clips found under "Villages" showcase the entire development by way of tract maps, architecture, density, streetscapes and amenities. The website also provides information on Newhall Ranch's smart planning principals.