During a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, the City of Santa Clarita Planning Commission voted to revisit the plan for the proposed Sand Canyon Resort — which is expected to be denied — next month.
On Tuesday, the City of Santa Clarita Planning Commission voted to address the construction of the Sand Canyon Resort in an upcoming meeting on June 1, providing a list of concerns and reasons for their denial of the project.
“I think that we understand the intentions of the commission enough to draft an item,” said Jason Crawford, economic development manager for the City of Santa Clarita. “We will have a list of the reasons for denial as well as a list of the project concerns, and I think that is actually a cleaner, legal way for us to return the item.”
The proposed Sand Canyon Resort has primarily faced public opposition in the four public hearings about the project, but on Tuesday, the commission had the ability to comment.
See Related: Sand Canyon Community Votes Unanimously To Oppose Sand Canyon Resort
While the design has been updated to accommodate several public suggestions, the project continued to be met with public concerns about safety and the effect that rezoning — which would have to occur for the resort to be built — would have on the semi-rural community.
Prominent concerns include:
- Disaster evacuation
- Traffic impact
- Allowing a commercial venture in a rural community
- Drought
- Negative impact to local homeowners property values
“During the Sand Fire, only one lane was left and I was one of the last to leave the canyon,” said 33-year resident of Sand Canyon Dave Houser.
Multiple lane closures are expected to be required on main roads in Sand Canyon during construction, further narrowing the two-lane roads that serve as the only access routes in the area. Houser reflected on several experiences of having to evacuate the fire zone, only to be faced with heavy traffic that prolonged the evacuation process in the midst of major fires.
Photo courtesy of the City of Santa Clarita
Sand Canyon resident Martha Michael, who has lived in the area for 24 years, agreed that the new construction would create fire risk, saying it would also violate the Grant of Open Space “in perpetuity”, which designates the area where the Sand Canyon Resort would be built as a construction-free, open space.
“There are just certain things that cannot be mitigated, like the traffic, the “in perpetuity”, the fact that Vista Canyon is coming and we don’t know what that’s going to be like,” Michael said. “I just think green-lighting another commercial project is not a good idea.”
See Related: SCV Water Seeks Community Input On Identifying, Preparing For Natural Disasters In Santa Clarita
The original Sand Canyon Resort plans would expand the existing Sand Canyon Country Club to add a three-story hotel with 241 rooms, a wedding hall, 23 villas, restaurants, a spa, a minigolf course and other amenities to the facility.
Due to heavy public opposition, the designs have since changed to remove the planned Oak Villas and detention basin in an effort to dedicate more open space to the City of Santa Clarita and save various oak trees on the property.
As a Special Standards District, current zoning requirements state that further developments in the area must “maintain, preserve and enhance the rural and equestrian character of Sand Canyon,” according to the City municipal code.
Photo courtesy of the City of Santa Clarita. May 2021
The planning commission stated it believes the Sand Canyon Resort project has sufficiently addressed the concerns of the public and the commission. However, the commission expressed awareness that the space where the resort would be built is part of the open space previously established by Santa Clarita’s city council.
“We are now on the precipice of being betrayed,” previous Sand Canyon Community Board member Ruthann Levison said at the meeting. “If the City were to allow a new owner to ignore the zoning in our area and change any of the open space golf courses to community commercial, that would be a complete betrayal to our community. Not only to our community but to any community or resident in our City of Santa Clarita.”
Watch the full Planning Commission meeting here.
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