Las Lomas developer seeks annexation to the City of Los Angeles to avoid Los Angeles County and Santa Clarita Valley density restrictions.

We’ve seen sneaky developer tricks in the Santa Clarita area before, but none so bold as those proposed by Dan Palmer, the developer of the proposed Las Lomas project.

The 555 acres of land slated for the Las Lomas mega-development currently resides in Los Angeles County territory, just south of the City of Santa Clarita, but Palmer wants this land annexed into the City of Los Angeles instead. Los Angeles City’s northern territory currently stops at the northern boundaries of Sylmar, Granada Hills / Knollwood and Chatsworth / Porter Ranch. This proposed annexation would extend the City’s boundaries northward so Los Angeles City’s northern border would be adjacent to the City of Santa Clarita.

Why is this important? The One Valley, One Vision Valleywide General Plan Project, which was a joint effort between the City of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County, does not allow the level of density that the Las Lomas plans propose. By going directly to the City of Los Angeles, this One Valley, One Vision agreement can be avoided since the City of Los Angeles wasn’t a party to it. SNEAKY, huh?

In fact, the Las Lomas project is being presented ONLY to the City of Los Angeles, with the assumption that they’ll be able to entice (bribe, threaten, etc) the Los Angeles City Council to welcome the Las Lomas project with open arms. And why not? This would add 555 acres to the City of Los Angeles, extending their sphere of influence significantly northward. Seems the greedy little buggers in the City of Los Angeles are just drooling over the prospect of the additional tax revenues that a project the magnitude of Las Lomas would provide for their pet projects, and aren’t real concerned about the impact that a project of this size and density will have on the surrounding area.

And then there’s the bribes themselves, where Palmer is asking to pay for City Planning staff overtime to expedite the approval of the Las Lomas EIR (Environmental Impact Report). While it’s apparently not unheard of for a large developer to cover some of the City costs involved in getting a major project approved, paying to expedite that process is definitely not the norm, nor should it be allowed.

For the unitiated, the Las Lomas project is proposed as follows according to City of Los Angeles planning documents:

A 555-acre mixed-use community with approximately 5,800 dwelling units of low to very high density, 2,300,000 sf of Office/Research & Development, 250,000 sf of Community Facilities (including a K-8 school), 225,000 sf of Neighborhood Retail, a 300-room hotel, and 285 acres of open space. Proposed recreational amenities include pedestrian and bike trails, parks, a library, theaters, and a museum. The applicant also proposes to connect to the MetroLink commuter rail, and construct a trolley to serve the community.

The MetroLink station has in itself become the butt of many jokes recently, as the Daily News reported that plans call for the station to be built underground to be reached space-age style via elevators cored through the mountains to a rail tunnel 100 yards below. The general consensus is that Palmer’s been drinking to much Jungle Juice lately since this plan doesn’t make sense, especially it’s located in one of the most active earthquake zones in the area.

The City of Santa Clarita is set to approve a resolution at its August 28th City Council meeting to oppose the Supplemental Fee Agreement (or Agreement to Accept Bribes) that would allow the City of Los Angeles to accept Palmer’s funds in return for expediting the project’s approval. Santa Clarita’s opposition also states that an early approval of the Las Lomas project would conflict with Santa Clarita’s Sphere of Influence Amendment that is currently being pursued to extend Santa Clarita’s sphere of influence to the ridgeline between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, which is apparently consistent with the City of Los Angeles sphere as recently amended.

A review of the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission reports reveals that Las Lomas developers have been paying law firm Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava MacCuish LLP (Weston Benshoof) for its lobbying efforts targeted towards the City of Los Angeles on a consistent basis for several years now.

If annexed into the City of Los Angeles, the Las Lomas development would be in Councilman Richard Alarcon’s district. Alarcon has been in the news recently for drafting a measure that would protect property owned by his soon-to-be wife, so he’s certainly no stranger to making decisions that will benefit him personally.

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