The county has granted final approval for a three-story, 112-unit Comfort Suites hotel to be built at the intersection of The Old Road and Parker Road, west of Interstate-5 in Castaic. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the project Dec. 6.
The hotel initially received approval by the Castaic Area Town Council about three-and-a-half years ago and approval by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission in September 2004. But the approval by the commission was appealed by Castaic resident Ted Silver, who claimed the hotel would be too close to homes. “We have the outsiders coming in,” Silver said when the board was considering his appeal on Sept. 27. “You’re just opening up the opportunity here for strange elements to come into our neighborhoods and check it out.” Despite Silver’s testimony before Supervisors and a petition, that he said had the signatures of 160 Castaic residents, Supervisor Michael Antonovich moved to override Silver’s appeal and approve the hotel, which will be located at 31425 The Old Road on the northwest corner of its intersection with Parker. The board mandated that the project be in compliance with the regulations of the Castaic-Val Verde Community Standards District, a set of rules approved by the voters in those communities regarding development in those areas. The standards district was approved more than a year ago after eight years of citizen input, said Paul Novak, planning deputy for  Antonovich. When the Regional Planning Commission approved the development of the hotel in September 2004, two exceptions were granted regarding the project and Antonovich moved to overrule those objections, as well as deny Silver’s appeal. One exception to the standards district that the commission approved was that the building be as high as 40 feet, even thought the standards district only allows for 35, Novak said back in September. The supervisors voted to force the hotel to comply with the 35-foot standard. Another condition that must be met for the hotel is that there be a 20-foot landscape setback along the front of the hotel with no buildings or parking spots. The commission only proposed 13 feet, Novak said, and the supervisors voted to override that exception as well. The third condition is that the developers of the hotel install a street light at the corner of Parker and The Old Road.  The hotel will be distinct from the other three in the community; they are all east of I-5.

This Story can be found in today’s Signal Newspaper.