Newhall Ranch

This is included mostly for completeness, because it is not really in our area. It will greatly impact I-5 traffic, of course, and it is, in a sense, a case study for Centennial. The Specific Plan Area is 12,000 acres, west of Magic Mountain to the Ventura County line, and mostly but not exclusively south of SR 126. The Draft Specific Plan includes 25,000 housing units, plus all the usual paraphernalia.

The FEIR for Newhall Ranch Specific Pland and Water Reclamation Plant was approved by LA/BOS on 03/23/99. The certification was challenged in Kern County Superior Court by (among others) Friends of the Santa Clara River, SCOPE, the Sierra Club, Ventura County, the Cities of Fillmore, Oxnard, and Santa Paula. The judge decided on 05/31/00 that additional analysis were needed and the FEIR certifcation was set aside. Additional analysis were approved by LA/BOS on 05/27/03, and the lawsuit was discharged by the court on 10/22/03. The Sierra Club, Friends of the Santa Clara River, and SCOPE appealed on 12/29/03, and then setlled with Newhall Ranch Company on 03/31/04. Thus the CEQA process and lawsuit brought a five-year delay, a slightly smaller project of 21,000 units, plus additional mitigation.

This, of course, is not the end. EIR's have to be prepared for the various phases of the project, track maps and permits have to be approved. Currently, the EIR for River Village (1444 homes) is under CEQA review.