What would it take for the West Side to be annexed to the City of Santa Clarita?

Let’s face it: The annexation of the West Side would definitely create an economic benefit for the City of Santa Clarita.

Why then, all the disputes? The West Side claims that the City of Santa Clarita wants things done their way, or no way. West Side representatives state that they’d like concessions to the West Side for what they’ve already put in place with their own dollars via Mello Roos assessments (which, by the way, aren’t unique to the West Side) as well as the promised increases in city services and police coverage, the elimination of the utility tax that Los Angeles County charges, and no added parks and recreation fees.

West Siders are also fearful that the tax dollars that their area generates may be used for other parts of Santa Clarita, and not for maintenance and upgrades of their infrastructure when it starts to detiorate in 10 years or so. They’d like to have regional representation on the Santa Clarita City Council, but apparently have been told that this would be too difficult to manage.

What does it take for an annexation to take place? We’ve already seen part of the process with the proposed Stonecrest annexation.

The first step is for the residents to organize and request the annexation. About 60% of the residents need to sign the annexation request in order for it to move forward.

Then the City needs to process the annexation request, including preparing documents regarding boundaries and the financial impact of the annexation.

The next step is the actual annexation. In the absence of sufficient protest letters, the annexation happens automatically once the ground work has been done.

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