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Santa Clarita City Council members continued their deliberations on the future of council elections Tuesday during a closed session special meeting.
The City Council has not publicly met about the possibility of transitioning to district-based elections due to litigation alleging that the city’s current “at-large” elections dilute the votes of Santa Clarita’s Latino community, comprising one-third of city residents.
Tuesday marked the fourth time since late May that the lawsuit appeared on the City Council’s special closed session meeting agenda. Each time, City Attorney Joseph Montes did not have a report on the item during the public session.
The Santa Clarita City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to uphold the decision of the Santa Clarita Planning Commission, which denied the Sand Canyon Resort plan last month with a 5-0 vote.
The denial was made with prejudice, meaning Steve Kim, the proposed project’s developer and owner of the Sand Canyon Country Club, cannot submit an application for a similar project for a year, according to City Attorney Joseph Montes.
City Council members cited concerns about traffic, fire evacuation routes, past promises and the project’s compatibility in the equestrian neighborhood of Sand Canyon.
“Traffic studies can tell you things, but it’s different when you live somewhere and you experience something on a regular basis,” said Councilman Cameron Smyth, who was the first member of the council to voice denial of the project.
Sign posted at the entrance for Camp Scudder and Camp Scott. 062421. Dan Watson/The Signal
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors delayed the vote on a motion Tuesday that would create a permanent juvenile-detention facility at Camp Joseph Scott or Camp Kenyon Scudder, which are both in Saugus.
The move comes as
Santa Clarita officials sent letters to the board, contending the project requires a comprehensive assessment before continuing.
If approved, the board motion would adopt a state subcommittee’s recommendations to move violent youth offenders to the Saugus facilities, which were originally designed to host nonviolent youth offenders, while directing the county to “ensure that the appropriate renovations are made at Scott or Scudder within 90 days to be safe and ready for use.”
The Santa Clarita City Council Development Committee asked city staff to examine workforce housing projects in other cities to determine if the housing option is a good fit for Santa Clarita.