Castaic residents collect petitions to annex to the City of Santa Clarita.

Castaic residents have decided to take annexation matters into their own hands, defying the town councils that are supposed to represent them.

Members of the Castaic Town Council and the West Ranch Town Council have indicated that they prefer to take a more united stand for the "West Side" of Santa Clarita, but residents don’t appear to agree with this stance. Perhaps it’s just political posturing on the part of the Town Councils, but it would seem that they should pay more attention to what their residents truly want.

Signatures from about 70% of the residents in the Castaic areas of North Bluff, Hasley Hills, Live Oak and the Valencia Commerce Center have been collected in favor of annexing to the City of Santa Clarita. The City only requires 60% of the residents to vote in favor of annexation, so they’ve surpassed those minimum requirements. However, in order to move forward with the annexation process, one thing that has to be shown is that it would be at least "revenue neutral" for the City of Santa Clarita, meaning that the property tax revenues allocated to the City from that area would have to at least cover the services that the City would provide in return.

Brian Roney, who is one of the leaders of the Castaic Annexation Support Team (CAST) says, "Our group is not so much opposed to incorporation as supportive of annexation because that can happen right now." Roney and others presented these petitions at this weeks Santa Clarita City Council meeting for review at a future City Council meeting.

Also on the side opposing annexation is Newhall Land and Farming Company, and for obvious reasons. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been rather lenient when it comes to building new developments in the unincorporated areas of the Santa Clarita Valley, and a portion of the area represented by this petition is undeveloped land owned by Newhall Land. Says Marlee Lauffer of Newhall Land, "We are opposed to our undeveloped property being part of the annexation. Our philosophy has been that it is within the county, and that’s where we’re processing our tentative tract maps."

Residents of the Sunset Pointe area, which is supposedly represented by the West Ranch Town Council, are also taking matters into their own hands. Sunset Pointe residents are also apparently in favor of annexation into the City of Santa Clarita rather than formation of a new west-side city.

Meanwhile, studies paid for by the City of Santa Clarita regarding annexation and by Supervisor Antonovich regarding the incorporation of a new west-side city are still pending. These studies are expected to begin within the next month and take up to three months to complete.

Remember that earlier reports showed that of the $42 million in property tax revenues collected from the west side, a whopping $21 million went to support Los Angeles County areas outside the Santa Clarita Valley. Ken Pulskamp, Santa Clarita’s City Manager, says, "Annexation allows you to keep your tax dollars local. The money that is spent on this side of the freeway can be spent anywhere in the county now, and let’s face it, this is not the area the Board of Supervisors is seeing as having the highest need."

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