Cost of services decreases after incorporation into the City of Santa Clarita.

The Valencia NorthPark community, which was recently annexed to the City of Santa Clarita, has already begun to reap the benefits of cityhood according to City officials.

Valencia NorthPark is Santa Clarita’s 26th community to be annexed since the City incorporated in 1987. Valencia Northpark, located at the upper end of Valencia off McBean starting at about Skycrest Circle Drive and extending north to Copperhill Drive, brings the City’s population to nearly 178,000. The area has nearly 6,000 residents and 2,100 housing units.

Residents in Valencia NorthPark are now able to sign up for Santa Clarita City Parks and Recreation programs ahead of unincorporated residents, utilizing priority sign up. They also pay the "City resident rate," rather than the unincorporated resident rate. This rate split between residents and non-residents of the City of Santa Clarita was increased earlier this year, and created much bad will amongst the non-incorporated areas of Santa Clarita.

According to the City of Santa Clarita, Valencia NorthPark residents are now receiving more police services in the City, which provides 16-17 patrol cars in the City’s 52-square mile area, compared with 3-5 cars in the 500-square mile unincorporated area. Response times are supposedly lower in the City area than in the unincorporated area with emergency responses a full two minutes quicker inside the City.

Since Valencia NorthPark was annexed to Santa Clarita last month, the City of Santa Clarita states that it has:

· Installed 16 new STOP sign pavement markings

· Installed four new “No Parking” signs

· Installed three new street name signs

· Installed two new “Intersection Ahead” signs

· Cleaned graffiti from five street signs

· Performed 25 STOP sign inspections

· Repainted the white dash lines through the intersection of McBean and Copperhill

Valencia NorthPark residents are also saving money on utilities now that they are no longer part of the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. They no longer pay the 5% utility user tax on their gas, electric, telephone, and cellular phone bills, which saves an average of $200 a year per household. And, the City has completed a street tree assessment to establish trimming cycles and planting needs.

Also, with the City’s trash collection franchise agreement which became effective April 15, 2006, NorthPark residents are paying an average of $8 a month less for trash collection and are supposedly receiving more trash services including unlimited recycling and yard waste collection, special large item pick-ups and more.

The information in this article was prepared by the City of Santa Clarita, so there will always be some room for dispute about what the City provides or doesn’t provide. Trash service is pretty much the same everywhere now, with recycling and yard waste collection present in most neighborhoods. And of course the level of police services has been disputed before, especially by Stevenson Ranch residents. However, there are definite benefits of annexation, including those that aren’t mentioned here.

As a former resident of Valencia NorthPark, I know that certain services that were not controlled by the City of Santa Clarita were clearly substandard as well. Take mail service - the area was considered a "rural route" and thus mail was often delivered by a guy in a pickup truck wtih a tarp over the back to cover the mail. Mail was often misdelivered, so it would take weeks to get some items. Will NorthPark’s annexation to the City of Santa Clarita help this issue? I hope so!

Another item to note is that it took several years for the annexation process to be complete. With Valencia NorthPark being annexed only last month, it took over 7 years for this process to be completed. Why so long, and is there any way to shorten this process?

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