Trautman says City of Santa Clarita should have waited for "interested parties" to be brought in before implementing Old Town Newhall streetscape changes.

In today’s recorded interview with Jeff Wilson of SCVTalk, Diane Trautman indicated that the City of Santa Clarita should have had more "foresight" in implementing the Old Town Newhall Revitalization Plan. Trautman, who is currently on the Santa Clarita Planning Commission, is running for a City Council seat in the upcoming election on April 8.

In the interview with Jeff, Trautman says that the City of Santa Clarita should have looked at "all possible outcomes for implementing that plan [Old Town Newhall Revitalization], and should have waited on changing the streetscape until they brought in interested parties to develop properties to help those businesses" that are currently located in the Old Town Newhall area.

Jeff also quoted an unnamed City Council candidate as saying that they were "worried that Old Town Newhall will be boarded up soon".

In addition to altering the streetscape and traffic flow, the City of Santa Clarita is in the process of buying up properties in the Spruce Street area in the hopes of getting a new library approved for that area. The City is currently soliciting comments via an online survey regarding this proposed library in conjunction with Los Angeles County.

I won’t rant too much about the library survey here, but I will note the fact that the survey fails to ask the obvious question, "Do you think there should be a new library in Newhall?" Newhall already has a library, and it also has a very limited residential population. Short-sighted City Planners hope that Stevenson (Stepford) Ranch residents will flock to this new library in order to support its existence. Huh… Stepford Ranch going to NEWHALL to use a library? That’s assuming that they even use a library these days, now that the majority of research material is available online. And no, it’s not likely that residents of Stevenson Ranch will need to travel to the library to use a computer either.

So far, the City has been able to acquire the CarQuest building and a vacant lot, and has apparently reached an agreement with the owner of the building that currently houses the Paws For Fun Doggie Daycare center. Paws For Fun owners say that they have been offered one year of free rent in that location as part of their concessions for vacating that property.

Note that the City is not being "generous" in offering this free rent… they are more concerned about avoiding the Ghost Town effect that would happen if businesses vacated the area long before "interested parties" were brought in to redevelop the area.

Remaining property owners in the Spruce Street area have yet to reach an agreement with the City regarding the "purchase" of their properties. White Light Chiropractic Center has had meetings with City representatives, but thus far no agreement has been reached regarding the purchase of their property and the relocation of their business (they are the only owner-occupied building in the area). The owner of the building that houses Just Passin’ Through has received an initial low-ball offer from the City, but nothing else thus far. Manny Santana, the owner of the old jail building (most recently used as the Antique Flower Garden), has clearly indicated his distaste and distrust of the City in regards to preserving that particular landmark, so he’s not likely to sell out soon either.

The City is clearly making every effort to make it look like these property owners are voluntarily "selling" their buildings to the City, but in reality the heavy weight of the threat of eminent domain proceedings is clearly hanging over their heads.

If Trautman and this other unnamed City Council member are so concerned that Old Town Newhall will become boarded-up Ghost Town Newhall if these streetscape changes continue to be implemented, then why is this plan moving forward? We’ve already seen one casualty in this streetscape folly in the form of the closing of the landmark Newhall Hardware store. Do the rest of Old Town Newhall businesses have to be shut down and boarded up before the City of Santa Clarita will recognize the folly of this project?

The current attitude of business owners in the Old Town Newhall area is that they don’t want to be around when the area gets boarded up, since it would be detrimental to their businesses. Who would want to visit a business located in a dingy, boarded-up ghost town, especially at night? We’ll likely see more businesses voluntarily vacating the Downtown Newhall area, leaving unrentable buildings behind for the rats and vagrants to enjoy.

Get Involved! Attend the upcoming meetings regarding the Newhall Revitalization Project.

• Monday, March 10 at 6:30-8pm at Hart Park. Topic: Old Town Newhall streetscape and landscape.
• Thursday, March 20 at 6-7:30pm at Hart Park. Topic: Proposed new library for the Spruce Street area.

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