Concerned About Growth?
So is the City of Santa Clarita!

Recent development plans approved for areas around our City include more than 60,000 additional housing units, in addition to construction on thousands of units already underway. This growth will increase traffic congestion and impact local parks and recreational facilities within the City.

That’s why the Santa Clarita City Council is working to form an Open Space and Parkland Preservation District.

This new District would help provide the necessary funds that would allow the City of Santa Clarita to:

• Purchase land and create protected open space in and around the City of Santa Clarita.
• Create more trails and wildlife corridors in and around the City.

How would it work?

To establish an Open Space Preservation District proposal, approval from property owners in the City would be necessary. That’s because the open space purchases would be financed by an annual assessment on properties in the City $25.00 for a single-family home for 2007-2008, with other properties such as developed non-residential and vacant parcels paying an assessment based on the total benefit that property would receive.

Ballots would be mailed to the owner of each parcel within Santa Clarita City limits, asking if the owner approves of the formation of the assessment district, or disapproves. The value of each ballot is weighted, based on the amount of the assessment that would be levied on that property. Fifty percent or more of the cast, weighted ballots must approve of the formation of the Open Space Preservation District to permit the City to begin levying the assessment. The ballots will be mailed on May 25th and they must be returned to the City Clerk prior to the end of the Public Hearing that will be held on July 10th in the City Council Chambers (45 days to return).

Why now?

As more families flock to the region, one way for the City to keep up with the demand for more preserved open space, improved active parkland and trails and maintenance of these lands and facilities is to find alternate ways to finance additional open space.

The rate of growth in the areas immediately outside the City of Santa Clarita is increasing and opportunities to preserve open space are vanishing every day. The City has worked hard to buy open space over the years, as well as to partner with other agencies to preserve land, but much of the City’s funds are tied up in maintaining the land already purchased. Additional open space land, and improved active parkland will help us keep up with demand and help preserve our quality of life.