For two decades, the Newhall Land & Farming Co. has envisioned a new city rising in the foothills north of Los Angeles.
Situated on nearly 12,000 acres along the Santa Clara River, the planned community would house 58,000 people and offer stores, golf courses, schools and recreational centers. Los Angeles County’s elected supervisors approved the project 12 years ago, prompting experts to declare that the Santa Clarita Valley would soon be home to other major developments.
A mammoth, 5,828-page environmental impact report won court approval a year ago, and a Newhall official declared that the project had been vindicated.
But the plans hit a major roadblock Monday when the California Supreme Court rejected the environmental report, a decision that was expected to further delay the project — one justice said it might add years — but not kill it.
The court said the environmental report failed to buttress its conclusion that the development would not significantly affect greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change. Also, the court said, it illegally allowed for the capture and relocation of the unarmored threespine stickleback, an endangered freshwater fish.
The ruling, coming after years of fighting between environmentalists and the company, provided new guidelines for all developers trying to win state permits for big projects.
Newhall Land & Farming said in a statement that it would continue to pursue the project. “We remain committed to realizing the vision of Newhall Ranch and the significant benefits it promises for the economy and future of Los Angeles County,” the statement said.
Opponents called the court action a “severe blow” to the project’s future.
Lynne Plambeck, president of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, called the decision timely, given the heightened attention to climate change around the world, including at talks being held in Paris.
“Land use is going to be one of the major generators of greenhouse gases, in this type of urban sprawl project,” she said. .
Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, writing for the court, said the environmental impact report failed to provide sufficient evidence that the project would not affect greenhouse gas emissions.
Without more evidence, “decision makers and the public are left with only an unsubstantiated assertion that the impacts — here, the cumulative impact of the project on global warming — will not be significant,” Werdegar wrote.
Two of the court’s seven justices dissented.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-newhall-ranch-20151130-story.html