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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-10-07 - AGENDA REPORTS - NV PLAN ANNEX (2)CITY OF SANTA CLAR.ITA INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Smyth and City FROM: George A. Caravalho, C DATE: October 7, 1997 SUBJECT: NORTH VALENCIA SPECIFIC PLAN /ANNEXATION In November 1995, the City and the Valencia Company entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the potential annexation of approximately 969 acres of unincorporated Los Angeles County. Approximately 770 acres of the 969 acres were vacant and the Valencia Company intended to seek entitlements from the City for that acreage. At the time the MOU was adopted, the Valencia Company stated their intention to request approvals for up to 3,690 dwelling units, approximately 850,000 square feet of commercial and 223,000 square feet of industrial uses. At the time of the MOU adoption, entitlements to be requested included a pre -zone, an annexation and development agreement, and environmental review. The MOU covered North Valencia, a portion of Northbridge and an area that later became the Dollinger II annexation (Orchard Supply Hardware center). While the MOU contained several deal points, the main issues involved the City purchase of approximately 285 acres of the Santa Clara River for conservation and recreational uses for $1.5 million with the understanding that, in turn, the Valencia Co. would use the funds toward landscaping and recreational uses. The City has an $800,000 Habitat Conservation Fund (State) grant received for the express purpose of purchasing riparian areas for long-term public ownership and stewardship. These funds will be lost if not spent by March 1998. The MOU also recognized the need for flood control improvements and the possibility for public financing of public infrastructure. In the spring 1996, the City approved a pre -zone for the North Valencia Annexation area according to the designations of the City's General Plan. These zones included CC, CTC, BP and RM. In June 1996, the City submitted an application with LAFCO to annex North Valencia. Portions of the original project area covered by the MOU located north of Newhall Ranch Road have already been annexed to the City as part of the Dollinger II and Northbridge Annexations. In January 1997, the Valencia Company modified their original entitlement application which now includes an annexation and development agreement, a General Plan amendment and zone change to create a North Valencia Specific Plan, a parent tentative tract map to replace the various individual tract maps, and an oak tree permit. The Specific Plan divides the area into six planning areas: Lago De Valencia, Builder's South, the Pony League, South River Village, the Valencia Industrial Center, and the Santa Clara River Conservation Area. Within the planning areas, the applicant is proposing 2,000 dwelling units (750 single family detached, 1,250 multi -family attached), 636,000 square feet of commercial/retail,167,000 square feet of industrial/business park space, a 6.5 -acre elementary school site, at 15.2 -acre lakelpark, a 12.4 -acre community park, 4.9 acres of neighborhood parks, 355.6 acres of open space and over 5 miles of trails. In June of 1997, staff presented an overview of the North Valencia Specific Plan and outlined a Planning Commission review schedule. We are currently on target to complete the Planning Commission's review of this project according to this schedule. CURRENT PROJECT STATUS The Planning Commission opened the public hearing on this project on July 1, 1997. The Commission has since conducted eight (8) public hearings and a site tour. The Commission is expected to complete their review of this project and make a recommendation to the City Council by mid-October. The North Valencia Annexation/Specific Plan is expected to be before the City Council by the end of October or early November. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEER) was released for a 45 -day public review period on August 1, 1997. This comment period was closed on September 15, 1997 and the City's environmental consultant has prepared a response to comments document for the Planning Commission's review. Prior to making a recommendation to the City Council, the Commission will have reviewed the Specific Plan, Draft EIR, Final EIR (including the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and Response to Comments) and all other documentation associated with this project. The Annexation application has been on hold at LAFCO pending the completion of environmental documentation and City project approvals. The Annexation process will commence after completion of the fiscal impact analysis and final action by the City Council. It is expected that the annexation could be final by first quarter of 1998. PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW The Planning Commission has conducted extensive public hearings and discussions over the last several months. The Commission has raised more than one hundred (100) issues associated with this project and nearly all of these issues are being addressed by the applicant. Issue areas are generally associated with the Santa Clara River buffer and bank stabilization, the design and function of the lake, school district mitigations, and circulation. Staff is currently preparing detailed conditions of approval which reflect the Commission's discussions over many hearings. Based upon current Planning Commission discussions, the Commission is expected to act on this project in mid-October. Staff will review some of these issue areas during its presentation at the City Council's October 7, 1997 Study Session. RECOMMENDATION 1. Receive staff presentation. ATTACHMENTS: Memorandum "City Benefits from the North Valencia Annexation" (August 12, 1997) Project Location and Vicinity Project Summary Existing and Proposed Trails GAC:JJL:LHS:lep s:\cd\council\nv1ocss2.1hs CITY OF SANTA CLARITA INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Smyth and Councilmembers Chairman Cherrington and Planning Commissioners Chairman Stigile and Parks Commis i ners FROM: George Caravalho, City Manager DATE: August 12, 1997 SUBJECT: City Benefits from the North Valencia Annexation The Planning Commission is presently considering the North Valencia Annexation and Specific Plan project. The City Council gave preliminary consideration to this annexation in 1995 and adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the North Valencia Annexation in November 1995. The North Valencia Annexation includes a total of 858. acres of vacant land and developed industrial and commercial uses. The vacant portion of the annexation area is approximately 706 acres under the ownership of the applicant, Newhall Land and Farming, and is included as part of a North Valencia Specific Plan request. The North Valencia Specific Plan includes a request for 2,000 dwelling units (750 single family and 1,250 multi -family), 636,000 square feet of commercial uses and 167,000 square feet of industrial uses. The project also includes a 12.4 acre community park, a 2.7 acre public oak preserve area, a 2.2 acre River Trail staging area, and 5.5 miles of community serving trails as part of the City's River Trail system. This memo outlines the benefits of this annexation to the City. It is worth remembering that this project is an annexation, and any City benefits may not be included in the project should development be pursued under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County. FISCAL BENEFITS FOR TBE CITY The Annexation of North Valencia will fiscally 9fset the Northbridee Annexation. 'A fiscal impact analysis was done prior to the adoption of the MOU in November 1995. This analysisshowed that the North Valencia Annexation would offset the negative fiscal impact of the developed residential Northbridge Annexation and, together, the effect of these annexations on the City would be fiscally neutral. The City is presently revising this fiscal impact analysis to reflect the current development proposal. The project will increase the tax and non ula ion base of the City. Upon annexation and build -out the project will add 858 acres and 5,600 residents to the City which will increase the tax base for the City and increase the City's population by which tax revenues are reapportioned to the cities. The annexation includes approximately 125 acres of already developed industrial uses in the Valencia Industrial Center and the North Valencia Annexation Benefits Memo August 12, 1997 Page 2 Arco Gas Station at the comer of Valencia Boulevard and Bouquet Canyon Road. These developed areas have an assessed value in excess of $50 million. RECREATIONAL BENEFITS FOR VALLEY RESIDENTS • A 5.5 -mile expansion of the City's River Trail System The County has not developed and maintained regional trails in the Santa Clarita Valley like the City's trail program. • A developed 12.4 -acre itv park to satisfy Quimby Act and school reauir m nt . This park would be located adjacent to 6 acres owned by the Metropolitan Water District's (MWD whose land may be available for future park expansion. A joint -use agreement would be instituted between the City and Saugus School District regarding the use and maintenance of the park. In contrast, the County would accept the MWD land to satisfy Quimby requirements like the County did for previous subdivisions (e.g. Northbridge Park and North Park Park.) and may not require that this parkland be developed (e.g. Pamplico Park). The County would also give Quimby credit for the water area of the private lake. • Fifty percent of the shoreline of the private lake would ,ld b accessible h n ubli through the paseo system as agreed to following negotiations with the City. The lease areement for the inivate Hart Pony Leazue ballfields would be increased from year-to-year lease to a 15 -year lease, Two public nark areas 2.2 acres and acres would be located adiacent to the River Trail. One of these areas would provide an oak tree preserve and the other would provide a staging area for the regional trail system, including public parking. These mini -park areas along the River Trail System are consistent with the River Park concept of the City's Santa Clara River Park Project. These mini -parks would not be provided under the County. SANTA CLARA RIVER CORRIDOR PLANNING BENEFITS $1.5 million purchase of the Santa (Tara River using mnt monies The City has an $800,000 Habitat Conservation Fund (state) grant it has received for the express purpose of purchasing riperian areas for long-term public ownership and stewardship. These funds, as well as the opportunity to purchase as portion of the Santa Clara River from Newhall Land and Farming, will be lost if not spent by March 1998: We are now on a 1 year time extension for this grant. The total amount of grant monies available to purchase riparian areas is $1.5 million (none of this money is from the General Fund)- By contrast, the County has not shown movement toward acquiring open space along the Santa Clara River Corridor for public ownership. a'l.!! !' i .ILS � � Y !.' a!� � � •� �� � •� � North Valencia Annexation Benefits Memo August 12, 1997 Page 3 under the MOU of November 1995. This would also become formalized as a deal point in the Annexation and Development Agreement. The river purchase would encomuass approximately 390 acres of oven space along the Santa Clara River corridor (55% of the 706 acre North Valencia Specific Plan area). The purchase would include approximately 295.6 acres of river and riparian area, 84 acres of upland preserve habitat buffer (no development zone) and 9.7 acres of River Trail area. This is substantially more open space than the 285 acres envisioned as part of the November 1995 MOU. None of this would be provided should the project proceed under the County. The open suace Unland Preserve Habitat Buffer and adjacent River Trail lots provide precedent for the future provision of substantial open space, trails, and parks along the Santa Clara River corridor for public use and habitat protection. PLANNING BENEFITS FOR THE CITY The proiect wood include landscgped center medians on the maior hi hwas throuehout the project (Valencia Boulevard, McBean Parkway, Magic Mountain Parkway, Avenue Scott, Newhall Ranch Road, Bouquet Canyon Road). Recently, the County has not been approving beautification measures such as landscaped center medians because of on-going maintenance costs. The County has sought to eliminate landscape maintenance districts (LMDs) where possible. • Roads within the annexation area would include bikeways and would be built to City. not County. standards. City policy is to provide either permanent City -required Class 1(bike trails) or Class 2 (on -street bikelanes) bikeways on or parallel and adjacent to major highways through this project including Newhall Ranch Road, Magic Mountain Parkway, McBean Parkway, Bouquet Canyon Road, Avenue Tibbits, Avenue Scott and Valencia Boulevard. If this project area develops under the County, rather than the City, bikeways would not be provided. • The North Valencia Annexation area is nearly an and v loned County island located within the Valley -Center Concept area of the City's -General nt As identified in the General Plan, the Valley Center is a key planning area of the Valley and is envisioned as a focal point for Valley -wide regional serving. uses. The annexation area is completely surrounded on four sides by the City of Santa Clarita (Please see attached annexation area map) and is a logical.expansion of the City. If this area is developed under the County, then the City will lose jurisdiction and authority to control the type of land uses that will occur in this key Valley area. • City reau st d a Specific Plan that would not► p=ared under the County, The City and the applicant have Specific Plan allows the City to provide specific planning guidance for this area, including provisions for increased open space, more parking, design guidelines favoring pedestrian oriented development, transit amenities, etc... North Valencia Annexation Benefits Memo August 12,1997 Page 4 that would not be applicable should the project develop under the County zoning standards. • The proposed Buried Bank Stabilization option would preserve a maiority of the natural river edge by allowing bank stabilization for the project to be constructed an average distance of 125 feet back from the river. Once constructed, the area excavated for the bank stabilization would be backfilled and revegetated and preserved as high quality upland habitat. This method of bank stabilization is dramatically different from the existing river edge bank stabilization (ungrouted and grouted rip rap or concrete) favored by Los Angeles County Public Works, Flood Control Division. A rail corridor would be reserved hro eb this project area as agreed to as part of the November 1995 MOU. This rail corridor is presently being studied by SCAG and no favored corridor has been established at this time. The intent of the rail corridor is to link the City's Metrolink line to the Ventura rail corridor along SR 126. OTHER IMPORTANT PROJECT CONSIDERATIONS The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project is presently open for a 45 - day public review period (August 1, 1997 through September 15, 1997). In order to encourage public comments on the document, the Planning Commission has opened the public hearing process early to allow for focused discussions on each Draft EIR issue area during the public review period. These Draft EIR focused discussions are anticipated to be completed by the end of August and the public will still have over two weeks to left in the public review period to submit written comments and present their concerns to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission public hearing will remain open throughout the Draft EIR public comment period and until the Planning Commission is ready to make a recommendation concerning this project. Thus, the City's public hearing process offers the public numerous opportunities to ask questions about the project and the environmental document during the 45 -day public review period. A delay in the public comment period would jeopardize the ability of the City to keep all of the $1.5 million for the river purchase. Furthermore, the additional time is not necessary since the Planning Commission is making an effort to allow ample time for public review and comment on the Draft EIR document. The Saugus Union School District is in favor of this project and has already executed an agreement with Newhall Land and Farming. The Hart School District has indicated a preliminary opposition to the project based on concerns about adequate school mitigation. The Hart District and Newhall Land and Farming are presently negotiating.a new agreement to mitigate development impacts to schools. There was a "Hart Settlement Agreement" that agreed to a fee of $2.84 per square foot for residential uses (with $1.56 paid directly to Hart). This agreement North Valencia Annexation Benefits Memo August 12, 1997 Page 5 provides fees well in excess of the present State school requirement of $1.84 per square foot for residential uses and $0.30 per square foot for new commercial/industrial development. The County has recently approved residential development with the condition that any negotiated fee agreement would be applicable; however, in the event that an agreement cannot be reached, the State fee would be considered adequate mitigation. The City desires to encourage the Hart District and Newhall Land and Farming to negotiate an agreement between themselves.- However, it is likely that an agreement will not be reached before the Planning Commission and the City Council are asked to make a recommendation concerning the North Valencia Annexation and Specific Plan project. This would include making a recommendation as to the adequacy of school mitigation. Staff recommends that this issue be considered in light of the overall benefits of the project for the community. The recommended school mitigation measure in the Draft EIR is similar to that supported by County counsel and supports the school mitigation fees established by the State. • This project has been analyzed using the County Development Monitoring System (DMS) and, like the County, mitigation measures and conditions of approval for this project would be based on the DMS analysis. GAC:LHS:lep S:\cd\mnent\av1m4.1hs (Informational Copy to the Hart District) FIGURE.L.U-, l Project Location and Vicinity 12.03.1/97 L.0 -o NORTH VALENCIA ANNEXATION EIR S h "� Santa Clarita' LEGEND Project Site f Boundary �_ a _ Saugus' - f r encia;T, 1 �: E � 3 F l.YOH9 A�7E F' tYg 1 G h ! p f Z y P e rorr .Newhall NOT TO SCALE MAG[ RoJ CT �. MOUNTAIN xy�" +.�. `tau," FIGURE.L.U-, l Project Location and Vicinity 12.03.1/97 L.0 -o NORTH VALENCIA ANNEXATION EIR S h "� Santa Clarita' LEGEND Project Site f Boundary �_ a _ encia;T, �: - F l.YOH9 A�7E F' tYg 1 G h ! p f P .Newhall NOT TO SCALE FIGURE.L.U-, l Project Location and Vicinity 12.03.1/97 L.0 -o NORTH VALENCIA ANNEXATION EIR L2W 13My ENO' SDe .. baeImp by PMA norims Martine. AeeociaMs, iw. RIVER OAKS CENTER AtrM MAIL CIVICCENTER NOHi1ni0.1UGE COrotuMm MNTfY6 eaonxn wm. AX) .W. n.VaxLT QN.MI LEGEND Project Site Boundary Plmning Amo Boundary Q� Lagode Valencia Bouquet Sowh Pony League 0 S..th River Village 0 Valencia lndusuial Centa OSanto Clara River Conservation Arca NOTEMe MWD Easement. Valencia IWu ial Cenla Iponiml.0 c lake Wmer Agercy. Su.Cal.Gm Companyand Arco Sulionarc•W 4 thepmjem but Imtap offt Spaifc Pln NDgTX VAL[Ne11 e /ALENCIA • / NDUETRI j% NORTHBRIDCE COMMUNITY \111 MWDFEf PRMEM `\'� / / I `:•CC�'r (ISI � � ^\�i-r _ I--.��-,..�}�••.a — _ �1 ��/ ` I�` /.�z !I�� " d'• % I ��` LEGEND / 3 q T / I�>� Project Sire Boundary �Yqy \ " I\ ~���a►y----------ILS `-- —` I / EQUESTRIAN TRAILS © Rm,11nnmm =fin `, (nat-unsitive habitat areas) I 1 v es .` Nken ©MUIII U e $aDIR 14YE( T _y- INa.nnl / � J S�- Y� TRAILS AND RECREATION ��Q�`�©Toils (existing) �•`F \ I �• � �®®(i® �^ 'may/may �r�uex¢uwTrails (Proposal) •x•Fsxvm ®®� /Lg �7 �_•�` `�;�----iF--_-'-�. Fo.. neap ..��A L....�Pedestrian BridBe(Propoxcd) RIVER OAKS CEraul �, au xtfii;6Z.---,.AllTO MALL 'yam PND' 132WII IK-'-1}li %m I2W& CMC CENI'ER� _ Sourer. b.ae Inap by MA Florian M.di. ANI.Wn.l99'). E NOTEIThe MWDCasement, Vekncia InJmaial Cerra Ipaniunl.Candc Lake Waser Agency, So. Cal. Gas Company and Area Smlia t are a pan oI IM praiect M srot a pan of the Sw,r.c Ran. Existing and Proposed Trails NORTH VALENCIA ANNEXATION Eln